Eric Lichaj impressed most observers during his brief cameo in the senior team during last summer’s Peace Cup tournament in Spain. Although he may have seemed a little green around the gills positionally, he was definitely an exciting prospect going forward, while his pace and aggression allowed him to make up for the odd mistake most of the time. Definitely one for the future.

After a couple of successful loan spells at Lincoln and Leyton Orient under his belt last season, I was curious about what the future held for the 21 year old and I was delighted to learn just now via MLSsoccer.com that Eric has been offered a new three year contract. Apparently it’s just a matter of his agent, Steve Kelly, flying over from America next month to finalise the deal.

This will obviously add to the speculation surrounding the future of both Luke Young and Habib Beye at Villa, but there’s no suggestion that Lichaj is expected to be first choice right back.

“He’s very close to the first team,” said Kelly.”I’ve had many discussions with Martin O’Neill. He’s had interest from other clubs, but they are showing how badly they want to keep him. This is a serious contract.”

It would seem unlikely in any case since Carlos Cuellar will almost certainly be returning to full back next season, making Young and/or Beye’s Villa career look all the bleaker. Lichaj’s best bet, perhaps, will be to aim for some playing time during the domestic and European cup competitions and hope to impress enough to get the nod at right back should Carlos have to cover for either Collins or Dunne.

My suspicion is that MON would prefer deeper cover there as far as the Premiership is concerned, but it may well be a question of priorities and he’s certainly demonstrated in the past that he’ll look to fill other gaps in the squad first.

Hopefully we’ll get a clue about MON’s plans during the pre-season, but we won’t know for sure until the transfer windows slams shut at the end of August. In the mean time, I’m extremely pleased to lean that Lichaj is more than likely among those plans in some form or another.