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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are in talks with attacking midfielder Callum O'Hare over a long-term extension to his current contract at Villa Park.
What's the word?
O'Hare only has one year remaining after the club took up an option of a further year back in April.
It is thought the 21-year-old is highly-rated with those in the Villa hierarchy after coming through the club's youth setup.
Since making his debut in the Carabao Cup in 2017, O'Hare has made nine first-team appearances for Villa and spent the second half of last season on loan at League Two outfit Carlisle United where he made 16 appearances, scoring three goals and laying on three assists.
It is believed that Dean Smith and Villa would like to tie the youngster down long-term before sending him out on loan again in order to gain further experience in the men's game.
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Wise for all parties
Villa fans saw a glimpse of O'Hare in pre-season but it was always going to be unlikely for the rising starlet to be able to throw his name into first-team contention considering the club's summer exploits in bringing 12 players in for a combined £144.5m.
He could be one for the future though, so it makes sense to tie him down on a long-term deal, especially as he's regarded as one of the brightest prospects to come through the academy.
With him unlikely to feature in the Premier League, it makes a loan spell imperative for his development - he's played a couple of games in the Championship and half a season in League Two so any team in the Football League should do, but the higher up the ladder, the better.
That exposure to the men's game should be appealing to most teams as a player from a top-flight academy might arrive like a deer stuck in headlights having never played anything outside of youth football.
O'Hare will greatly benefit too as if he impresses there's a good chance that Smith will look to utilise him in the future, and you'd certainly expect that to be his plan considering they want to tie him down.
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