Yet another academy product sold

It seems like something that's been happening quite a bit at Aston Villa this year - academy players failing to make the grade and being sold off. Last week it was Daniel Johnson moving to Preston North End on a permanent deal. Now, it's Mikey Drennan going to Shamrock Rovers, signing a two-year deal. The 20-year old Irish youth international joined Villa's youth academy in 2010 and was part of the team that won the NextGen series. He even scored six goals in the competition, tied for second most, despite missing the quarterfinals, semis and final due to an injury..

It's disappointing because it looked like the core of that team was going to grow into the next generation of first team players at the club. However, it looks like they were just ridiculously good for their age, but couldn't keep up and produce at the next level.