Aston Villa are reportedly now in advanced talks with West Bromwich Albion over a potential transfer deal for 19-year-old midfield sensation Rico Richards.
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are closing in on landing 19-year-old West Bromwich Albion midfielder Rico Richards.
After finishing seventh in England’s top-flight last time out, Aston Villa will be striving to embark on a successful European campaign after securing a shot at a UEFA Europa Conference League qualifier. While a host of exciting big-money stars are continuing to be linked with the club, it is vitally important they beef up their youth ranks with high-calibre talent to maintain healthy supply chain to the first-team.
As such, it was recently reported that the Premier League outfit were set to strike a seven-figure agreement with West Bromwich Albion for young midfielder Jamaldeen Jimoh. And now, another young West Brom midfielder is being targeted: prodigy Rico Richards.
The playmaker has been a regular fixture for the Baggies’ Premier League 2 side this season, starting 11 of his 12 appearances while chipping in with three goals and three assists for the Under-21s.
He has carved a reputation for himself as the driving force behind West Brom’s impressive FA Youth Cup run in 2021, which took them all the way to the semi-finals. That run included wins over Tottenham and Everton, with the 19-year-old getting on the scoresheet against the Toffees.
Richards also played in the Championship last time out, featuring for a short ten-minute cameo in a 2-0 defeat to Hull City back in March, although that proved to be his only feature in the club’s matchday squad at first-team level.
If this transfer happens, it would continue a regular theme from recent years, with Aston Villa cherry-picking some of the brightest talents to emerge from the West Brom academy in recent years. The Young Lions have ransacked highly-rated players such as Tim Iroegbunam, Finley Thorndike, Finn Azaz, Luka Lynch, and Triston Rowe from their local rivals.
Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have pumped large levels of investment into the Bodymoor Heath set-up over the last few years as Villa continues to churn out good profits from academy graduates, with Jack Grealish moving away from the club for a British record fee of £100 million and Carney Chukwuemeka sealing a move to Chelsea for £20 million last summer.
It is not that they are only selling academy products. Within the Aston Villa first team, the likes of Jacob Ramsey and Cameron Archer continue to flourish after graduating out of the Bodymoor Heath ranks. The Lions must continue to improve from the first team all the way down to the grassroots level as they look to revel in their new-found European status.
