Lovre Kalinic is yet to play a Premier League game for Aston Villa and it doesn’t look like the £7m goalkeeper will ever be seen again.
You don’t need to be a world class mathematician to know that three doesn’t go into two.
There was only room for a pair of goalkeepers in Aston Villa’s squad as they took on Midland rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the EFL Cup fourth round on Tuesday night and one of Jed Steer, Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic was always going to miss out.
In the end, it was the £7 million Croatian international who bit the bullet. Steer started between the sticks as Dean Smith’s side edged out their local neighbours 2-1 at Villa Park with Norwegian Nyland on the bench.
Kalinic is the odd on out right now and it seems almost inconceivable, with Smith pretty much confirming that he is fourth in the pecking order, that the 29-year-old will still be an Aston Villa player when February 2020 rolls around.
Yet, in truth, he can have no real complaints.
Kalinic’s Aston Villa career started with a 3-0 home defeat to Swansea City in the FA Cup third round last January and it’s fair to say he didn’t exactly make a positive impression. His positioning was questionable for all three goals during a disastrous defeat.
The 2017 Jupiler League goalkeeper of the year then conceded 12 goals in seven Championship games, Villa winning just one of those, and it didn’t take long before Smith took him out of the firing line and introduced Steer as the number one for the remainder of last season.
Kalinic has never returned.
He’s been included in the matchday squad once all in all competitions this season, featuring on the bench during an earlier EFL Cup clash with Fulham. Tellingly, he dropped out of the squad altogether once Nyland returned from injury.
The Mail claimed that Villa could sell both Kalinic and Nyland in January but it seems that the £7 million man is one step closer to the exit door now.
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