Andre Green's loan move to Preston is just the ticket

Andre Green has today started Aston Villa's youthful first team loan exodus - and will join Preston North End for the season.

It's a much needed move for Green, who burst onto the scene as the next big thing at Villa when it was presumed that Jack Grealish was a 'false dawn' in 2016/2017. Since then, it has been Grealish who has jumped from strength to strength while Andre Green has struggled.

In Villa's first two seasons in the Championship, Green showed flashes of brilliance in cameos. A looping shot caned the bar against Bristol City following an amazing run. He followed that up with an incredible goal against Norwich City in 2017 before injury damned him. Green showed parts of his quality after being loaned to Portsmouth last season, but couldn't find any form under Dean Smith at the end of last season.

At Preston, he will seemingly replace the dynamic Callum Robinson - a Villa youth graduate who has moved to Sheffield United. He'll likely be the starter on the wing going forward at a very good Championship team. He may feature this weekend in proper league action.

If Andre can start regularly for Preston, he could find and develop the foundations he needs to fulfill his promise. Football is fickle, we saw that when it appeared that some were ready to cast Jack Grealish aside a number of seasons ago. They are now doing the same to Green.

Getting his shins kicked off playing for Notts County was the making of Jack Grealish. While it'd take a serious injury and a reshaping of his mindset to achieve his promise, without the valuable match experience gained at Notts County - it'd have taken Jack a lot longer to achieve his potential. Andre Green now has a golden opportunity to play for a club that might very well need him - and at a fairly high level. We are all rooting for him and this could be just the ticket. Green hasn't had a good year - not truly - and a positive loan spell in the Championship will change the direction of his future.

Go get them Andre.