Sources: Aston Villa player granted permission to head to Merseyside club for talks

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Published on:

19 Jul 2019, 8:20 am

By Wayne Veysey

Dean Smith has given the green light for attacker Rushian Hepburn-Murphy to be loaned out to Tranmere Rovers, Football Insider understands.

Villa have been in advanced talks with the newly-promoted League One club over the season-long loan of the England Under-20 international.

A Villa source has told Football Insider that manager Smith and the club's coaching staff believe a temporary move to Tranmere would be ideal for Hepburn-Murphy's development.

As revealed by Football Insider earlier this week, negotiations have been held over the terms of the deal and Hepburn-Murphy is now primed to head up to Merseyside to finalise the transfer.

There are still some issues to be ironed out, and Villa might want to recruit another attacking player before letting Hepburn-Murphy go.

The versatile forward, who can spearhead the attack, play on the flanks or even in a second striker role, spent the second half of last season out on loan at League Two Cambridge United, where he scored twice in 16 appearances.

Hepburn-Murphy is highly rated at Villa after graduating through the ranks to become the second youngest player in the club's history to play for the first team after debuting at 16 years and 176 days.

He has clocked up 16 further senior appearances, but is now set to go out on loan again to get first-team football.

In other Aston Villa news, it can be REVEALED that the club are set to submit a new and improved player bid after learning star wants Villa Park move.

Aston Villa