Noel Whelan has backed Todd Cantwell to renew his ‘telepathic’ partnership with Emiliano Buendia if he signs for Aston Villa.
The former Leeds United striker gave Football Insider his verdict on the Villans’ latest target.
The lowdown
The latest from an Aston Villa source is that talks between the Midlands outfit and Norwich City are ongoing.
They’re ‘pushing hard’ to recruit the 23-year-old following Jack Grealish’s move to Manchester City.
Villa have already done business with the newly-promoted Canaries this summer, paying a club record £34.56million to sign Buendia.
Cantwell missed 10 games through injury last season but was still able to contribute six goals and six assists for Daniel Farke’s side.
He was called up to the England squad for the group stages of the Under-21 European Championships in March, featuring in a 2-1 win over Croatia on Matchday Three.
The latest
Whelan showered Cantwell with praise and suggested that evidence of his on-field understanding with Buendia would be clear to see ‘from day one’.
“We know he’s a very young talented player,” he said. “You’re bringing that partnership back together again with Buendia as well.
“The two know each other very well so that that communication and telepathic play between the two of them will come straight into play. You’ll see that from day one.
“A highly-rated young player that other teams have been looking at.”
The pundit did warn however that it would take a ‘substantial’ fee to persuade Norwich to part with a player who may be central to their survival hopes.
According to Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth, they may even demand upwards of £50million.
“If Norwich don’t want to sell and feel like they’ve given Villa too many good players, they could say no. They need to give themselves a chance to stay in the Premier League as well,” Whelan continued.
“It’d be very hard to turn down an offer from Aston Villa which I’m sure will be big and quite substantial.”
The verdict
Cantwell is an immensely talented player. He even demonstrated that in a Norwich side that amassed only 21 points and finished bottom of the Premier League table in 2019/20.
Villa may have spent in the region of £95million this summer, but after Grealish’s exit they’ve actually made a profit up to this point. They may be able to meet Norwich’s demands, then, but will they deem them fair?
If he’s their chosen successor then perhaps money is no object. But after bolstering their ranks with Bailey, Buendia and Ings, there could be wisdom in returning to the table for Cantwell next summer, when his contract will be into its final 12 months without the club option for a further year.
In other news, there’s an update on the future of this goal-shy Villa star.
