When Tom Heaton picked up a season-ending injury last week, most at Aston Villa will have despaired.
The 33-year-old goalkeeper, signed from Burnley in the summer, has been a consistent and strong performer for Villa this season after all.
Lovre Kalinic, though, would have sensed an opportunity. This was his chance to stake a claim for the Villa number one shirt and get his career at the club back on track.
Except, that’s not how it’s worked out. Instead, Aston Villa boss Dean Smith turned to Ørjan Nyland and then sanctioned a loan deal for Pepe Reina.
Kalinic was pushed back down the pecking order and closer to the exit door, which Het Laatste Nieuws explain is looking like the player’s only option.
The newspaper cover the goalkeeper’s situation today and say that things aren’t looking great for the goalkeeper, who once won the best goalkeeper in Belgium two years in a row.
They state that Kalinic finds himself ‘languishing in the stands’ at Aston Villa and needs to find himself a move to get out of the ‘forgetful pit’ he’s been dumped in.
Why? Because he needs to be playing ahead of Euro 2020, that’s why.
With Danijel Subasic retiring, Kalinic should be Croatia’s number one but ‘a goalkeeper who doesn’t play for his club also soon loses his status as international.’
That’s the last thing he wants, and having already seen his playing time for his country cut, with Dominik Livakovic now number one, Kalinic needs a move ‘urgently’.
