The academy graduate had a productive season on loan in the Championship.
Throughout the summer transfer season, Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery and sporting director Monchi were brutal in allowing a number of players to leave the club.
Who departed Aston Villa this summer?
Jed Steer and Ashley Young were released when their contracts expired at the end of the 2022/23 season, with the latter joining Premier League rivals Everton.
However, the club also approved the permanent transfers of four academy graduates following their loan experiences in the Championship last season.
Jaden Philogene, Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey, and Keinan Davis were all loaned out to Hull City, Sheffield United, Burnley, and Udinese, respectively, rather than given the opportunity to exhibit their abilities for Emery’s club in the coming months.
The sale of Archer to the Blades was exceptionally beneficial, with Villa reportedly receiving a sum of £18.5 million for the man they brought through their junior system.
Tim Iroegbunam, who impressed on loan at Queens Park Rangers last season, could be the next in line to be a similar success story for the club’s youth.
The central midfielder, who is presently sidelined with an unclear injury, caught the attention with Villa in the Championship and appears to have struck gold, since his market value has risen in 2023 as a result.
What was Tim Iroegbunam’s net worth last year?
Football Transfers estimated the 20-year-old’s predicted transfer value (xTV) at €2.3m (£1.9m) at the end of 2022. This was partly due to his academy performances and scant first-team appearances for Villa previous to his loan with QPR.
During the 2021/22 season, Iroegbunam made three Premier League games and four EFL Trophy appearances for the U21 team.
He made 2.4 tackles and interceptions per match and won an impressive 80% of his individual duels in his three top-flight appearances, while demonstrating his defensive ability for the young squad with 4.8 tackles and interceptions per match in four Football League Trophy games.
The precocious kid, who began his youth career with West Bromwich Albion, also appeared for the Villans academy that season, making 15 Premier League 2 matches.
Last season, how did Tim Iroegbunam fare?
His appearances for Villa’s first team earned the superb enforcer a loan transfer to Championship club QPR in the summer of 2022, where he went on to play 32 league matches.
Over the course of the season, he made 2.8 tackles and interceptions per game and scored two goals from the center of the field as the England U20 international continued to demonstrate his exceptional defensive instincts.
During that time, John McGinn (2.6) and Jacob Ramsey (2.7) both made a comparable number of tackles and interceptions per game for Villa in the Premier League, demonstrating that the young jewel is delivering respectable numbers in that regard.
It was his first experience playing senior football on a regular basis, and he was able to withstand the physical demands of the second division with a ground duel success rate of 50% and multiple interventions each game.
What is Tim Iroegbunam’s current net worth?
His efforts for QPR have increased his market value to €6 million (£5.1 million), implying that his valuation has increased by 161% since the beginning of the year.
This demonstrates that the £12k-per-week earner is a player on the rise, making him a potentially desirable asset for Villa to cash in on or use in their first-team set-up in the future.
Archer is an excellent illustration of how the club may use academy youngsters to produce funds to enhance the senior squad, particularly if the player is found ineligible for Emery’s roster.
During the second half of the 2021/22 season, the England U21 international was sent out on his first EFL loan, where he impressed with an average Sofascore rating of 6.83 and seven goals and one assist in 20 Championship games for Preston North End.
That stay at Deepdale gave him crucial senior experience playing against professionals on a weekly basis, which he subsequently utilised to become a star on loan with Middlesbrough under Michael Carrick’s supervision last season.
Archer had a superb Sofascore rating of 7.11 in 20 appearances for the club this year, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists as they advanced to the play-off semi-finals before losing to Coventry City.
Meanwhile, only Ollie Watkins (15) scored more than six league goals for Villa last season, and only Ramsey (seven) made more than six assists.
These figures demonstrate that the English kid was able to flourish during his second loan term away from Villa Park, which prompted Sheffield United to splurge the cash to purchase him on a permanent basis to lead the line for them in the Premier League.
Villa may come to regret selling him, given that the brilliant striker has already scored once in two top-flight games for the Blades, but there is no doubt that turning an academy player into £18.5m is a superb piece of business that deserves respect.
If the Villans can find him the ideal loan during the second part of the 2023/24 season, Iroegbunam could follow in Archer’s footsteps. His stint at QPR provided him with a foundation of experience at that level, which could perhaps allow him to advance at another team next year.
At the age of 20, he has lots of opportunity to grow and improve in the months and years ahead, and another six months could allow him to continue his upward trajectory, as seen by his skyrocketing market value throughout 2023.
As a result, the promising prospect, who was once described as “impressive” by former manager Michael Beale, is the next jewel off the production line for Villa and could either be a future star for Emery’s first team or provide the Spanish manager with more funds to work with if they are able to cash in on him, as Archer did.
They have already struck gold with their efforts over the last five years, but a huge sale in a few years would undoubtedly see them hit the jackpot.
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