Meet the Aston Villa and England youth Bayern Munich are eyeing

Easah Suliman is a name known to few outside of Aston Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, but the 16-year-old could soon be lining up alongside the likes of Mario Gotze, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery for Bayern Munich, if reports are to be believed.

Suliman, who’s captained England at Under-17 level and can play at left or centre-back, is thought to have impressed FCB’s scouts with a string of solid performances for his hometown club in this season’s FA Youth Cup.

Villa, who have lost four games on the spin and are a massive 9/4 for a win at home to Southampton that should guarantee their Premier League survival, are expected to fight tooth and nail to keep hold of one of their best prospects.

However, the lure of the Allianz Arena may prove too strong for Suliman to resist, as it was for young Liverpudlian Dale Jennings almost three years ago.

Winger Jennings was lauded as one of the most exciting young talents in the country when coming through the ranks at Tranmere and picked up the League One Apprentice of the Year award for the 2010/11 season.

A number of Premier League clubs were put on alert when the then 17-year-old scored a wonder goal against Plymouth, but Bayern snapped him for their reserve side at the end of the campaign.

Jennings’ time in Germany was blighted by injury and, after just 36 appearances for Bayern Munich II over two seasons, Barnsley brought him back to Blighty in a £250,000 deal.

This may be seen as a cautionary tale for Suliman – who is yet to make a mark on Paul Lambert’s first-team squad at Villa Park – although, if Pep Guardiola does come calling, it would take a great deal of maturity to turn down a switch to the Bundesliga behemoths.

Southampton are 5/4 favourites to win in the Midlands, with the draw 12/5.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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