Keinan has earned his Stripes
HE is now earning his stripes as a Villa star – but Keinan Davis has revealed he might have headed for the stars and stripes of the United States of America, had Villa not come knocking.
Davis has established himself as a first-team regular at Villa Park this season after a striker injury crisis gave him a chance to impress.
Before moving to Villa, however, his Biggleswade Town mentor Dave Northfield was preparing a highlights reel to send over to US colleges in an attempt to win Davis a scholarship.
“He was massive for me,” said Davis. “There were times when I was thinking I didn’t really want to play any more and he told me I was good enough to get into an academy, and as long as I kept playing there I’d get the chance, because we used to have friendlies with different academies to see if we could get scouted.
“It kept me going. Villa came to watch quite a lot. Sometimes I didn’t even know until the later stages when people started talking about it.
“Then I played quite well in one FA Youth Cup game and they said they’d take me on a week’s trial.
“I’d been speaking to Dave Northfield and thinking what I should do because I was getting older.
“They were organising clips to send over to American universities to see if any of them were interested.
“I had colleges asking and all I had to do was pick one and that would have been it.
“It was a matter of weeks but then Villa came in and the schedule just changed.”
Meanwhile, Robert Snodgrass has revealed why he did a lap on honour at Elland Road last Friday, despite the fact he didn’t receive the warmest of receptions from Leeds United fans.
The Villa winger, who is on loan from West Ham United until the end of the season, made almost 200 appearances for the Whites between 2008 and 2012 before joining Norwich.
He was booed by some home supporters during Villa’s 1-1 draw but, nevertheless, embarked on a lap of the pitch to applaud his former fans.
“That was always the plan, regardless (of ) the result or me getting booed, they were amazing with me for four years,” he said.