Aston Villa boss Dean Smith challenges Orjan Nyland to fight for No.1 jersey after Lovre Kalinic arrival
Villa boss Dean Smith has challenged goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to prove he should stay the club's No.1 following the arrival of Lovre Kalinic.
The Croatia international yesterday sealed a £5.4million switch from Gent, signing a four-and-a-half year deal at Villa Park.
But he will not officially join until January, meaning Nyland is set to start Villa’s four Championship games over the festive period.
Smith met with the 28-year-old yesterday morning and said: “At the moment, Orjan has got the shirt and it is his to keep.
“He has had a run of 10 games with me and has kept four clean sheets. Long may that continue. But we wanted to strengthen in certain areas and that was one. This is a great signing for us.”
Smith believes Villa have signed a “Premier League player” in Kalinic, who is expected to make his bow in the FA Cup third round tie with Swansea on January 5.
The imposing shot-stopper has become the club’s third goalkeeper signing in the space of just six months though the first of those, Andre Moreira, is expected to see his season-long loan from Atletico Madrid cut short.
Moreira has failed to make a Championship appearance and struggled to make the bench.
Smith said: “I have spoken to Andre. That is something we will look at it in January.
“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.”
Kalinic is Smith’s first player signing since joining Villa in October. Goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler was also heavily involved in the process, with sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch then negotiating the deal.
“There were a number of goalkeepers we looked at,” said Smith. “One of the biggest keys with any player is how realistic is getting them in?
“You can cross a few of them out straight away. Between myself, Suso and Christian and the coaching staff we came up with an awful lot of names.
“Through the process of the coaching staff watching them and relating back to Suso we have crossed off the list. He (Kalinic) was the standout.”
