Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says they'll soon consider the next stage in the careers of their top U23 players.
Smith is set for showdown talks with Aston Villa's under-23 management team of Mark Harrison and Mark Delaney to map out the future of Villa's young guns.
A select number of Villa's 23s have impressed throughout this campaign with Akos Onodi, Kaine Kesler, Jake Walker, Callum Rowe, Mungo Bridge, Dominic Revan, Harrison Sohna and Louie Barry all making their first-team debuts in the heroic FA Cup defeat to Liverpool back in January.
Elsewhere, the likes of Kesler, Carney Chukwuemeka and Jaden Philogene-Bidace have all stepped up to the first-team with the latter signing a new deal up until 2024 just last week.
"He's a good player," Smith said of Philogene-Bidace, 19, who could be amongst Villa's bench at Newcastle providing Anwar El Ghazi doesn't make it with his infected toe issue. "He's got really good balance, good feet. He's probably working now on improving his end product. That's the biggest thing he needs to improve at the moment.
"He's been training regularly with the first-team squad; him, Carney and Kaine have been with us regular. They've been inside our bubble so we're seeing a lot more of them each day and they're getting better."
Goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo (Ayr United), Rowe (Hereford), D.Revan (Weymouth), Ben Guy (Portadown), Jack Clarke (Chesterfield), Cameron Archer (Solihull Moors) and Tyreik Wright (Walsall) are all currently out on loan, with their futures set to be decided at a meeting next week.
Smith was asked about the future of Villa's under-23s, and told the Birmingham Mail: "Academy players, in general, will be under the remit of Mark (Harrison). I will sit down with Mark H and Mark Delaney about under-23 players and discuss the players and how they're doing.
"We've got a technical board meeting on March 16. We've got some really talented youngsters. One of the positives of a really tough year with the pandemic has been able to get the young lads to train with us.
"Starting when we went to small-group training, coming back from the first lockdown. The difficulty is having two first-team bubbles and players not being able to hop from one to another."
Smith added: "We've got some really good players. The Ramsey brothers (Jacob and Aaron); Jaden (Philogene-Bidace) has just signed a new contract which is fantastic; Carney (Chukwuemeka), Kaine Kesler; some young goalkeepers have done really well, the likes of Filip Marschall and Akos (Onodi).
"Like I've said, we've got some really good footballers coming through. Louie Barry as well, nobody can forget his goal against Liverpool. Unfortunately he's been injured the last month or two but it's a really exciting time at the academy."
