Caleb Chukwuemeka has been training with Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings this week, while Tim Iroegbunam has also stepped up to the Aston Villa first-team, per Birmingham Live.
Chukwuemeka has been working with the Villans’ new attacking coach Aaron Danks since joining the club from Northampton Town. Aston Villa edged rival interest from Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur to sign the promising forward for £300k last month, per the Daily Mail.
The Birmingham-based outfit tracked the 19-year-old for 11-months before launching their pursuit this summer. Newcastle United, Norwich City and Belgian side Club Brugge also explored his situation at Sixfields, before joining his 17-year-old brother, Carney, at Villa.
Chukwuemeka first attracted a raft of admirers with his performances with Northampton’s U18s during the curtailed 2019/20 campaign. He scored 16 times and assisted a further 14, before netting twice and providing one in 28 senior appearances, starting three, last term.
Dean Smith awarded Chukwuemeka his Aston Villa debut at Barrow in the Carabao Cup as a late substitute last month. The highly-rated teenager also scored on his PL2 debut against Fulham three days later. Striking the equalising goal during a 1-1 draw at Bodymoor Heath.
Smith has now called on Chukwuemeka to train with the Aston Villa first-team this week, alongside Watkins and Ings. Villans product Cameron Archer, who scored a hat-trick against Barrow, also took part in the sessions ahead of facing Everton.
As did Iroegbunam, with Smith rewarding the 19-year-old after the central midfielder’s solo goal against Norwich’s U23s last week. The former West Bromwich Albion prospect, who joined Villa in July, is yet to make his senior debut. He featured on the Baggies’ bench once, and has made five appearances for the Villans’ U23s so far this season.
Should Smith hand Chukwuemeka his Aston Villa league debut?
Chukwuemeka is consistently increasing his status and will likely be pushing Smith for his league debut at Aston Villa soon. The English talent is yet to feature in any of the Villans’ top-flight squads since moving to Birmingham this summer.
Training beside £75k-a-week star Watkins and Villa’s £25m summer signing Ings will help Chukwuemeka bridge the gap to the first-team. Watkins – the Villan’s £28m former record-signing – scored 14 goals in 37 games during his debut Premier League campaign last term.
Ings, meanwhile, has two goals in four games since leaving Southampton for Villa Park this summer. He scored 46 and assisted a further 10 in 100 appearances in all competitions for the Saints. But Chukwuemeka earned considerable praise while growing at Northampton.
“Caleb has got an unpredictability about him and he can be unorthodox at times,” former manager Keith Curle said, via the Northampton Chronicle. “What we’re trying to do is get the fundamentals in place in his play without taking away that excitement and that freedom in his play.”
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