Tom James’ impressive form at League Two Yeovil Town has earned him the admiration of Championship promotion hopefulls Aston Villa.
Who knows where Alan Hutton will be playing his football next season.
The Mirror claimed back in January that Villa had decided not to renew the Scottish defender’s contract after seven years of loyal service. It was understood that he was ‘shocked and disappointed’ to be told he would be let go.
But, after a series of impressive performances in which he also filled in for Neil Taylor in an unfamiliar left-back role to great effect, the Birmingham Mail reported that Aston Villa could perform a surprise U-turn and keep Hutton at the club after all.
But with just a few games left in this Championship season, we are still no closer to finding out whether Hutton will be staying or not.
Though reports in the Bristol Post that Aston Villa are interested in Yeovil Town’s 21-year-old right-back Tom James could perhaps shed further light on Hutton’s situation.
The former Cardiff man has been impressive for Yeovil since he moved to Huish Park in 2017, notably keeping Alexis Sanchez quiet on his Manchester United debut back in January’s FA Cup clash.
And he would be another right-back in Villa’s ranks alongside Ahmed Elmohamady and James Bree, suggesting that Hutton could indeed be heading out of the door this summer.
The likelihood, however, seems to be that Hutton will depart if Villa fail to earn promotion back to the Premier League. Another season in the Championship would mean the club need to cut costs and Hutton, according to The Star, is earning £30,000-a-week.
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