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Jamaica eyeing Cameron Archer; no Young Lions call-up despite red-hot start to season

Jamaica are said to be considering an approach for Aston Villa forward Cameron Archer.

Despite being born in Walsall, he qualifies to play for Jamaica through his mother. He is yet to be capped by any country at youth level.

19-year-old Archer has started the season in brilliant form, scoring goals in the EFL Cup for the first team as well as in the EFL Trophy and PL2 for the U21s and U23s.

He has a total of 10 goals so far this season, but that wasn’t enough to get him into England’s U21 or U2o squads for the recent internationals.

However, England are reportedly watching him and considering a call up for future camps, according to The Athletic, but Jamaica would also like to add him to their growing list of UK-based players.

Jamal Lowe (Bournemouth), Andre Gray (QPR), Kemar Roofe (Rangers), Liam Moore (Reading), Wes Harding (Rotherham), Ravel Morrison (Derby), Daniel Johnson (Preston) and Ethan Pinnock (Brentford) were all involved with Jamaica in the September and October international break, alongside headline inclusion Michail Antonio who was called up for the first time last month and made his debut against Panama.

Contract issue won’t be a problem “As soon as they offer it, you sign it,” says Hutton

Archer is out of contract next summer, but Villa will surely be working to resolve that. He is in Dean Smith’s plans, the Villa boss blocked a number of potential loan moves this summer and is prepared to do the same in January.

Archer reportedly first caught the eye of Smith in pre-season after he scored a hat-trick in a behind closed doors friendly.

“We were training in London in pre-season and he played in a behind-closed-doors game and scored a hat-trick.” Smith said.

“It certainly raised our eyebrows and made sure we didn’t forget him.”

Smith certainly did not forget about him. He gave Archer his Premier League debut in the 1-0 win against Manchester United last month, three days after he had netted at Stamford Bridge in the EFL Cup.

Ex-Villa right back Alan Hutton believes there should be no hesitation from Archer should he get offered a new contract, due to the obvious pathway to the first team under Smith. He told Football Insider.

“As soon as they offer it, you sign it because you’ve shown your hard work and Dean Smith’s shown faith in him to get him into the team.”

“There’s a pathway, we’ve seen it with (Jacob) Ramsey, (Carney) Chukwuemeka, Archer, (Jaden) Philogene-Bidace.

“All these guys are from the youth team coming through and they’ve been given opportunities. He’s learning, he’s learning on the job in the first team.

“He’s been given that opportunity. For me, if I was a youngster and I’m him, you sign it and you continue your development where you are.”

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