Carney Chukwuemeka should be in 'no rush' amid Aston Villa contract speculation

Aston Villa have a plethora of options when you analyse their young academy prospects currently bursting through the system at Bodymoor Heath.

Many of them are now being rewarded with first team appearances such as Cameron Archer, Carney Chukwuemeka and Jaden Philogene-Bidace.

However, whilst Archer and Philogene-Bidace have both been tied down to new deals, Chukwuemeka is yet to decide on his future at the club. He turned 18 recently and so is now eligible for a professional contract at the club, but is yet to sign the deal.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Claret and Blue podcast, Ashley Preece had this to say regarding the academy prospects: "We heard from (Christian) Purslow two weeks ago now that when Steven Gerrard came in, he told Purslow he wanted to improve the age profile of the club.

"It's a young team, an inexperienced team, I want to bring winners in. So it's interesting, Gerrard likes to bring in the youth and you've got to be patient with it.

"He's bringing Carney Chukwuemeka on in games. Villa were one-nil up with 20 minutes to go last weekend and under pressure. Ashley Young was on the bench with Morgan Sanson, two experienced pros in there and he brings Carney on, so that was quite telling for me. He is prepared to give them a chance.

"He's kept a few of them around the first team session, Tim Iroegbunam, the 19-year old midfielder, he's been in first team sessions ever since Gerrard came.

"He's having a good look at him and Kaine Kesler, he likes him. He watched him on the Friday night against (Manchester) City and the next day he was back down at Bodymoor.

"There's no rush for these 18-year-olds for me but they need these loan moves. Cameron Archer scored this week which was brilliant and