Kerr Smith has signed a new contract with Aston Villa and will join St. Johnstone on loan for the remainder of the season.
The 19-year-old left Dundee United in January 2022, having played for the Scottish Premiership team since he was seven years old. He will now go back home to continue growing under Craig Levein, the manager of St Johnstone.
The Saints are currently 10th in the Scottish Premier League after a difficult start to the season. Smith has made 11 appearances for the club’s youth teams this season, eight of which were in Premier League 2, the last six of which were in the starting lineup. Smith has yet to make his senior debut for Villa.
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Smith
“When I first started working here in February 2019, I was employed by Kerr. Kerr would have turned 14 years old, according to Asghar. “The funny thing about Kerr is that, even though I hadn’t met him yet, we had a game with the under-17s the Sunday after I arrived to work with the under-18s. Because we were really short on players, I struck up a quick conversation with Kerr, who was a midfielder at the time.
“Listen, could you please play centre back?” I said. I had never seen him before, when he was playing centre back against Queen of the South. I could tell right away there was a lot of room for improvement in that
He was a physical, strong midfielder who excelled at passing the ball and stepping out from behind the defence. Subsequently, I spoke with Brain Grant and Andy Boldly, telling them that this boy possesses all the necessary skills to become a center-back.
“We saw at that point an opportunity to excel his development as a young center-back because Kerr was very good at what he could do in that position. Despite his skill with the ball, we continued to use him as a midfielder during that period.”
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