The 18-year-old has signed his first pro contract at Villa Park but reaction among some of the fans has been somewhat mixed.
Aston Villa have had some activity in the January transfer window, Croatia goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic having joined from Belgian top-flight side Gent on 1 January and Kortney Hause arriving on loan from Wolves until the end of the season.
However, with the Villans currently in a poor run of form in the Championship, which has left them 13th in the table and seven points adrift of the top six, there is plenty of feeling among the club faithful that more players need to be brought in to bolster the first team.
Now, casting an eye briefly on the Villa academy, the club announced on Tuesday that midfielder Jack Birch became the third Young Lion in the last eight days to sign his first professional contract at B6.
The 18-year-old, who has played four times for the Under-18s this season due to some injury problems, has joined fellow youngsters Michael Tait and Jacob Ramsey in penning new deals at the club.
Academy manager Sean Kimberley told the official Villa site that Birch, who joined the club as an Under-9s player, is a central midfielder who “demonstrates excellent vision and technical ability to pass the ball accurately both over short and long distances”.
Some Villa fans were pleased to hear news of Birch signing his first pro contract at Villa and expressed their well wishes on Twitter:
Going back to the earlier point about some fans being anxious with regards to new first-team signings, there was also some slightly more negative reaction on Twitter as some fans were expecting something different:
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