Teenager’s Tommi O’Reilly and Josh Feeney have been called up to first-team training by Steven Gerrard ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League trip to Leicester City on Saturday, according to the Birmingham Mail.
Over the last few days, the snipers have switched their sights from Gerrard to Brendan Rodgers. How the Leicester boss, that 5-2 obliteration at the hands of Brighton fresh in the memory, needs a performance akin to Aston Villa’s in their hard-fought and well-deserved draw with Manchester City last time out. A display of discipline, determination and doggedness.
In a battle between two of the Premier League’s early underachievers, bottom-of-the-table Leicester host an expensively-assembled yet often-underwhelming Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium; both teams desperate for three colossal points to kick start their stalling campaign.
Given the pressurised nature of such an occasion – Aston Villa have just one win to show from six games themselves – it seems unlikely in the extreme that either Feeney or O’Reilly will be thrown in at the deep end.
But it’s encouraging to know that Villa, following the emergence of Cameron Archer, Tim Iroegbunam and the now-departed Carney Chukwuemeka, have two more teenagers pushing for senior involvement.
Aston Villa have high hopes for Tommi O’Reiley and Josh Feeney
17-year-old Feeney and 18-year-old O’Reilly are training alongside the likes of Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho this week.
Both Feeney and O’Reilly have signed professional terms in recent months. Gerrard is a big fan of the former in particular. Feeney plays the game with a maturity you wouldn’t expect from a man who only turned 17 in May. He has also captained England at youth level.
“He’s a nice kid,” Gerrard explained during Villa’s pre-season tour of Australia. “But when he goes onto the football pitch he changes and he trains and performs like a man.
“He’s been professional and his training level has been top. He’s got a huge future. We’re going to develop him and shape him and polish him up.
“He’s a very humble boy. His family have done an incredible job bringing him up in the manner they have. He’s been a joy to be around for the couple of weeks. And he’ll have many more opportunities to be around this group. It’ll be a matter of time before he makes his debut for Aston Villa.”
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