Andre Moreira could be on his way out of Aston Villa after Dean Smith admitted that the goalkeeper hasn’t come close to pushing Orjan Nyland for a starting place. Despite the 28-year-old being inconsistent in his debut season, Moreira hadn’t made the matchday squad in the Championship since September and has only been utilised in the EFL Cup.
With Villa signing Lovre Kalinic to challenge Nyland in goal, there’s seemingly no place in the side for Moreira. Mark Bunn is likely to be third-choice for the remainder of the season and Smith has admitted that he’s disappointed with Moreira’s lack of progress. He doesn’t believe the 23-year-old has done enough to put himself in contention of starting on a regular basis.
The Villa boss said to Birmingham Live a week ago: “At the moment Andre has not really been pushing. It is something we will look at in January. I have spoken to Andre about that already. He was not a goalkeeper I was aware of when I first came into the club. We don’t really think he has been pushing Orjan as much as we would like. That is only our opinion. We will see whether he goes back to his parent club and take it from there.”
Moreira has made just two appearances in all competitions since joining Villa on loan for the season from Atletico Madrid. His parent club won’t be happy to see him on the periphery at Villa Park, nor will Moreira be content to sit on the bench. A departure looks on the cards when the January transfer window opens, as Villa don’t need four goalkeepers fighting for two places in the squad.
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