Inside Aston Villa's transfer and loan negotiations as academy boss admits 'I live on my phone!'

Aston Villa academy chief Mark Harrison has revealed how "three or four potential loans were bubbling" last week involving deadline day deals.

In the end, Harrison gave the green light to three academy loans involving Filip Marschall, Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Tyreik Wright who joined Gateshead, MK Dons and Colchester respectively.

That trio followed fellow academy stars Louie Barry (Swindon), Arjan Raikhy (Grimsby), Seb Revan (Hereford), Keinan Davis (Nottingham Forest), Cameron Archer (Preston), Jaden Philogene-Bidace (Stoke), Aaron Ramsey (Cheltenham) and Caleb Chukwuemeka (Livingston) in securing January loans for the second half of the season, while first-teamers Jed Steer (Luton) and Matt Targett (Newcastle) moved out on deadline day.

"On Monday, there were three or four potential loans bubbling – some that came off and some that didn’t," Harrison told the Villa website, discussing the drama of last week's transfer deadline.

"It was an interesting day and, over the past few days, I’ve lived on my phone."

On the loan system involving young players, Harrison added: “I’ve seen that the loan programme is critical to player development. Recent stats show that over 80 percent of players who make their debut in the Premier League have had at least one loan. That would suggest that a loan has to play a part in that player’s development.

“We’ve shown that we’re very positive about allowing our players to go out on loan, how we support them and working with other clubs.

"We are building up a reputation that we’ve got players who have potential, we are looking to get them out on loan earlier rather than later and that we do want to work with clubs to facilitate that loan because we understand the experiences that they