According to The Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa are looking to sign 16-year-old Southend striker Charlie Kelman. 

This would be a brilliant move by The Villans, for a player that has already been called up to the United States under-18 squad, as well as bagging 61 goals for Southend last season.

This will mean that the future is very bright for The Lions, particularly with regards to their attack. They already have promising youngsters such as Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Tammy Abraham at the club, but with the latter likely to return to parent club Chelsea at the end of the season, Kelman would ensure that Villa keep a lot of young quality in their squad.

Furthermore, with Scott Hogan and Jonathan Kodjia, who are slightly more experienced, it means that the club will not be heavily reliant on their younger players next season.

Of course, for now, Aston Villa cannot overlook the importance of signing defenders in the next transfer window, as that is the department where they are the most alarmingly threadbare in, but this will still be a great signing to help elsewhere on the pitch. But the importance of this signing would be that it would not interfere with Financial Fair Play rulings because that does not apply to academy signings. This would give the club the chance to focus any allotted or permitted spending on defenders.

All in all, signing Kelman may well be the best option that Aston Villa have at this current climate, and should be one that they should keenly look to secure.