Aston Villa tipped to replace Kalinic with highly-rated teen as talks underway – Hutton
Alan Hutton has suggested promising goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo could be in line for a senior promotion at Aston Villa.
The former Villa defender, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed the 19-year-old could take the place of Lovre Kalinic in the senior squad.
As revealed by Football Insider on Tuesday (June 6th), Hadjuk Split have opened talks with Villa about re-signing Kalinic after a loan spell last term.
Dean Smith has given the green light for the 31-year-old to leave, either on loan or permanently.
Both Kalinic and Emiliano Martinez have missed the start of Villa’s pre-season due to international commitments.
Meanwhile, Sinisalo signed a new contract at Villa earlier this week and has been pictured in first-team training.
The teenager is yet to make his Villans debut and spent much of last season on loan at Scottish Championship side Ayr United.
After signing him, Ayr manager Mark Kerr revealed Villa rate the youngster as “one of the best of his age, anywhere in Europe”.
With Kalinic potentially on the move, Hutton suggested a senior promotion could be on the cards.
“As a young player, you always target pre-season to get in the first-team plans,” Hutton told Football Insider’s Russell Edge.
“If you can get there, you’ve done the first job, your foot is in the door. Then it’s all about impressing, whether it be in training or you get minutes on the pitch.
“You would think that he would with only a couple of keepers there. There will be games coming up and it’s a massive opportunity.
“Other than Martinez, I think the other keepers, like Kalinic, they could possibly look to move on. There could be an opening somewhere and if you can impress and take this opportunity, you have to grasp it.
“You’ve been given an opportunity and it’s up to yourself to go and grab it. If you can do that, the manager will then believe in you and bring you into the squad.
“Massive opportunity. Hopefully, he can take it because you like to see the young boys breaking through.”
In other news, pundit predicts Aston Villa duo to exit after major reported update on third Smith Rowe bid.