Aston Villa's next four wonderkids in line to continue Steven Gerrard youth revolution

Aston Villa's academy is brimming with outstanding young talent and Steven Gerrard wants to take full advantage.

The reigning FA Youth Cup winners have the likes of Louie Barry, Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene-Bidace, Kaine Kesler and Aaron Ramsey all out on loan at EFL clubs, while Jacob Ramsey and Carney Chukwuemeka continue to gain invaluable exposure in and around Gerrard's first-team squad at Bodymoor Heath. And the Villa boss claims it is important that the club's youth hopefuls are aligned with his senior team.

Gerrard said back in December: "We've had an opportunity to sit down with the academy about 10 days ago now and we presented in terms of how we play. We shared our identity and best practice in terms of how we want it to look. We want to engage with the academy. There's fantastic work going on there with fantastic people. We don't want to interfere or control the academy, certainly from under-18s down.

"But we've made it nice and clear that, in terms of the second team, the B team or the under-23s whatever you want to call it, it's important that whenever players are coming up to train or are called up to play and to be part of the squad, that they know everything about us and the way we play and what's expected of them.

"These relationships have started and will evolve and will be strong. It's important that everyone's in line and aligned from top to bottom. So, yes, I'm really looking forward to more talent coming through and developing more (players)."

Here are just a few youngsters who have caught the manager's eye in his first months in the job.

Gerrard insists he is "excited" to help 18-year-old Ben Chrisene become a Premier League player and the Villa head coach has confirmed he will be given the