Aston Villa linked with transfer for wonderkid who has already broken into his first-team

Aston Villa have been linked with a transfer move for Bristol Rovers teenager Kofi Shaw - Leeds United and Southampton supposedly like him too

Aston Villa and Leeds United have been credited with an interest in Bristol Rovers wonderkid Kofi Shaw. The 17-year-old midfielder was handed his debut in the Gas first-team last April and has since been included in their League One squads at the beginning of this season. The Sun report that Shaw has caught the eye of clubs higher up the English football pyramid, including Villa, Leeds and Southampton.

Shaw scored in a 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur under 21s in the EFL Trophy and has made appearances against Cardiff City in the EFL Cup and in the league against Barnsley and Peterborough. He started the game against Posh, a 3-2 defeat, and completed an hour of the game.

He's a player highly regarded by the Gas, whose manager Matt Taylor was glowing in his assessment of the teenager following that run-out in the Trophy and whose performance he felt elevated Shaw into first-team contention.

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"I thought he was our best player," Taylor told BristolLive after the draw with Spurs U21s. "I thought he was the shining light from start to finish. I just thought his performance really stood for something tonight. From start to finish I thought he was our best player so I'm pleased that he's had a good night.

"We are still conscious that he is still only 17 so you do have to manage him a little bit and he's running as hard as he possibly can. Now we want to keep him in and around the first team and see if we can get him some game time and then see how he plays in a Rotherham or Stockport away or something like that."

Villa have worked hard and spent heavily in recruiting players from around the UK and also around Europe when it comes to their academy, pretty much since NSWE took over the club in 2018. The likes of Sil Swinkels and Lamare Bogarde, who are in around the first team, were both recruited from abroad.

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