Big mistake: “Bullish” AVFC gem with an "abundance of talent" is proving Gerrard wrong - opinion

Aston Villa had a very busy January transfer window in terms of bringing players into the club such as Philippe Coutinho, Robin Olsen, Calum Chambers and Lucas Digne as well as moving some of their current players out and away from Villa Park.

Several players ended up moving away from the Midlands club on loan deals such as Wesley, Matt Targett, Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet.

One other player that packed his bags and left the Villans on a temporary basis was young striker Cameron Archer, who joined Championship club Preston North End on loan until the end of the season.

Having only been included in three matchday squads since Steven Gerrard was appointed as Villa manager back in November, a loan move away seems to have been a smart move for the 20-year-old.

Since arriving at Deepdale, the striker has managed to score four goals in eight Championship appearances, the last four of which have seen him complete the full 90 minutes, showing how much of an important figure he’s made himself for the side in such a short space of time and why it may have actually been a mistake to let him go elsewhere. After all, those attacking talents would go down rather nicely for Gerrard right now.

His performances in those eight appearances have earned the youngster an overall rating of 6.78/10 from WhoScored, making him the sixth-highest rated player currently in Preston’s squad.

Labelled as a “bullish” player that has an “abundance of talent” by Ryan Lowe, Archer has shown Gerrard that he may have made a mistake in letting the striker leave Villa Park last month instead of keeping him in the squad and utilising his talents in the Premier League.

Taking into account how current Villa strikers Ollie Watkins hasn’t managed to score a goal in