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1. Robinson Departs

Having been snapped arriving at Bodymoor Heath last week it was a fair assumption that out-of-contract Callum Robinson had accepted the offer of a new contract. However, it was announced on Monday that he had decided to take up an offer at Preston North End, a club he’d had a couple of loan stints at.

It’s a shame, at one time he certainly looked like one of the players from the NextGen winning squad who might graduate to the first team, along with Jack Grealish. The offer was there. Perhaps he felt he’d get better opportunities to play and develop at PNE. Maybe, after 13 years at Villa, he simply fancied a change.

Speaking of the NextGen, if you’ve been wondering where they all are now, A Villa Fan’s got you covered.

2. Bodymoor Heath Pics

The hard work on the training ground continued this week and, with the 2016/17 kit officially unveiled, there could be plenty of pictures from the actual training ground without letting any Under Armour shaped cats out of bags.

The official website had galleries coming thick and fast all week. First up, the new coaching team of Roberto Di Matteo, Steve Clarke, Kevin Bond, Massimiliano Marchesi and Massimo Battara in action.

How many of these five will still be here in 12 months? Over/under on three?

We had another gallery dedicated to Jordan Amavi, back in training for the first time since his knee injury last season. An encouraging sight, for sure.

And we had gallery dedicated to man of the moment, Stan Petrov, back in full training for the first time since, well, you know. What can you possibly say? Just amazing.

3. Doncaster, Riccardo Calder & Youth Development

Doncaster Rovers are keen to arrange a season-long loan for Riccardo Calder after the young midfielder spent a couple of months there at the end of last season. Interestingly, Calder was one of five young Villans who were listed as “extended” in the end of season released/retained list. Often young players have a one year option in the contracts, presumably this is an example of that option being exercised, keeping the player at Villa for another year.

This highlights one of the complications of youth player development. A full season of competitive football, even a couple of divisions below, could be extremely beneficial, but it becomes difficult to access his progress when it comes to thinking about the contract situation beyond next year.

Throw in the churn of managers, coaches, and senior playing staff over the last several years without any kind of sporting director to manage the overarching direction of the club. It’s easy to see why players slip through the cracks. Or it should be.

The average tenure of a Premier League manager is less than two years now. They’re unlikely to spend much time agonising over the future development of players four, five, six years down the line. Hopefully this is something Dr. X and his new board get figured out fairly soon.

Sticking with the youth: Khalid Abdo, Jerell Sellars, and Rory Hale all agreed new contracts; details unknown at this stage. We know Robinson saw his future elsewhere. That leaves Ben Swift of the five who were offered new deals this summer.

4. Austrian Training Camp

A 24-man squad was selected to spend a week or so training in Austria:

Very much a squad of established senior players, then. How many will still be with us when the summer transfer window closes?

Adama Traoré and Jordan Lyden were specifically mentioned as “missing” due to injury rehab. This might hint at Lyden picking up where he left off last season in terms of first team stature.

The three players involved in summer tournaments were also missing, of course: Brad Guzan, Carlos Sanchez, and Ciaran Clark.

5. Pierluigi Gollini & Aaron Tshibola Sign

Pierluigi Gollini was confirmed on Friday in a ~£4.25m deal, signing a four-year contract. He’s 21 years old and made his debut with Italy’s U21’s last month – a 0-1 loss against France U21 – after being capped at U18, U19, and U20 levels.

He started his youth career at Fiorentina before spending a couple of years at Manchester Utd. After being released by Utd he headed back to Italy and signed for Verona, but played in only three first team competitive matches during his first season. He took over the number one spot last November after regular keeper Farael was sent off against Frosinone and wouldn’t play for Verona again.

Like Aston Villa, Verona finished bottom of Serie A.

Aaron Tshibola was confirmed on Sunday in a deal valued around £5m. The central midfielder is also 21 years old, has one England U18 cap, but he also qualifies to play for DR Congo.

He started life as a winger, so favours an attacking role, but has been developing the defensive side of his game. He has been at Reading for eight years and is a player Steve Clarke is very familiar with. Reading manager Jaap Stam most certainly didn’t want to lose him.

You can keep up to date on the latest comings and goings on the Transfers page.

6. GAK Graz 0-8 Aston Villa

Between signings we played a game against an Austrian amateur side and actually won! Crystal Palace beat the same outfit 13-1 a couple of summer back, but a win’s a win.

Two sides were sent out, getting 45 mins apiece:

1st Half XI: Gollini, Richards, Elphick, Baker, Cissokho, Gana, Gardner, Gil, Veretout, Ayew, Kozak.
2nd Half XI: Bunn, Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Bennett, Westwood, Petrov, Grealish, Agbonlahor, Sinclair, Gestede.
Unused: Steer, Amavi, Bacuna.

Hutton replaced Richards during the first half due to injury.

Scorers: Richards, Ayew 2, Kozak, Bennett 2, Gestede 2

The sight of Stan Petrov back in action was universally well received. What a story.

I don’t know whether he can truly get back up to competitive pace; never mind what he’s been through, he’s just turned 37. Nevertheless, I was happy with signing Bobby Pires because of what he could bring to training ground as much as anything and I’d be even happier to see Stan signed for the same reason and much, much more.

7. Upcoming games

Saturday July 16th: two teams being dispatched; one to Telford, one to Stourport. Yeah, I don’t know either. More info on the Preseason Fixtures page.