Middlesbrough target Cameron Archer is poised to join Aston Villa’s plans for next season, according to boss Unai Emery.
Archer joined Middlesbrough on loan in January of last season, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists in 20 games for Michael Carrick’s side. So it’s no surprise that the Championship club has been connected with a reunion.
Following Archer’s return to Villa Park, as well as Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz’s loan expiry, Boro are now short of forward players. They have signed Morgan Rogers from Manchester City and Alex Gilbert from Brentford, but it may be too much to ask them to duplicate Archer’s brilliant form from earlier this year.
With another move for Archer perhaps in the cards for the Teessiders, Emery’s announcement that he intends to keep the 21-year-old at Aston Villa next season comes as a surprise. In an interview with Birmingham Live, he announced that both he and January signing Jhon Duran will be staying.
“We are not speaking about the possibility of [Duran] going on loan,” he said.
“He’s a player we will need because he is our second striker with Cameron Archer and we have to use both as well, and we have to give them chances to help us, but it’s not a possibility [to be sent out on loan].”
A blow for Boro…
Archer knows the manager, players and supporters having spent the latter half of last season on loan at the Riverside, and so Carrick may have thought he would have a leg-up on the competition for the player’s signature this summer. So with Emery looking to keep him at Villa, it does come as a blow for Boro.
It means Middlesbrough will either need to make good with what is at their disposal currently, with new signings Rogers and Gilbert competing with Josh Coburn and Matt Crooks (whilst Chuba Akpom or Marcus Forss could be used as a number nine), or look to other targets.
It must be a priority for Middlesbrough given the lack of quality in this position on the pitch. Archer proved to be a huge difference-maker in getting the club into the play-off places, and the players currently available for Carrick’s side don’t look to be the same quality on paper, but only time will tell.
