Congratulations to the Villa Youth team who progressed to the semi final of the youth cup, writes Villa blogger Gregg Williams.

Carlisle away was said to be a stern test after they had previously knocked out Man Utd, but our boys brushed past them with a 2-0 victory.

Our club seems to produce top quality youth teams almost every season, and that is of great benefit to us.

It’s fair to say that not all the players ‘make it’ but even those that don’t quite have what it takes to hold down a first team place at Villa still seem to command decent fees, just look at how much we’ve recouped for players like Steven Davis, Liam Ridgewell, Darius Vassell and Gary Cahill.

These players were the difference between surviving in the Premier League and being relegated a couple of seasons ago, so their importance cannot be underestimated.

Unfortunately for our current crop of youngsters, the senior team has improved in quality since those days, and ‘making the grade’ will be more difficult.

At the same time we now have the profile to attract better quality young players, such as Harry Forrester, who would previously have ended up with clubs like Spurs and Liverpool.

Looking at the current youth side, I read regular and particularly glowing reports on Nathan Delfouneso, Forrester, Barry Bannan and the on loan Zoltan Stieber.

Delfouneso looks a great prospect, with those in the know saying he looks a better player at that age than Vassell, Luke Moore and Gabby Agbonlahor.

That’s no mean feat considering all of those players were England U21s and two have been selected for senior squads.

If Nathan can reach those heights then Martin O’Neill can save himself a few million in the transfer market.

I’m sure that Villa fans would rather see an exciting young player brought through by the club scoring goals as well. Well done to the kids, and good luck in the semi finals.

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