It’s no secret that Keinan Davis has an uncertain future at Aston Villa. He has been short of form and game-time under Dean Smith and is likely to be pushed further down the pecking order when Wesley Moraes returns from injury.
It’s also no secret that Smith needs Davis for backup in case Ollie Watkins is unavailable, with The Athletic reporting that a transfer decision won’t be made on the 22-year-old until the end of the January window.
Davis is a man in demand this month, with Championship quintet Stoke City, Preston North End, Swansea City, Derby County and Huddersfield Town returns from injury, but Villa can’t let him go until they have an update on Wesley’s fitness and potentially brought in a replacement.
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It’s a shame that Davis is being made to wait as he could benefit from regular game-time elsewhere given his lack of football under Smith. He has been handed only 47 minutes in the Premier League this season while Watkins has played every minute of every league game.
That Davis hasn’t managed to score a top-flight goal in 22 games suggests that dropping down a division may be beneficial too. As noted by The Athletic, he is still useful to Smith from the bench and is popular in the dressing room, but his development is stalling.
Getting regular football at a lower level for five months could see Davis recapture some form.
