Dan Bardell couldn’t understand why Aston Villa approved goalie Filip Marschall’s loan move without having a backup plan.

The 20-year-old, who earned his League Two debut this season, has joined League Two side MK Dons on loan until the end of the year, Villa revealed on their website on January 19.

Hakon Valdimarsson, 22, was strongly linked to the Villans, but on January 26 he made the decision to sign a £2.6 million contract to join Brentford, a Premier League team, from Swedish side Elfsborg [BBC Sport].

With Marschall’s temporary departure, Bardell feels Villa needs to find a better backup for second-choice keeper Robin Olsen, noting that the goalkeeping unit is now weaker.

Bardell, in an exclusive interview with Villa News, stated: “I was confused by it because Marschall went out on loan to MK Dons. He’d obviously played in the Europa Conference League and filled in on the bench a couple of times when Olsen was injured.

“It looked like Villa seemed to be the favourites in this deal. The fact they let Marschall go led me to believe that there would be something in the pipeline, but he’s gone to Brentford knowing that he’ll go immediately into the first-team squad, that’s the line.

“I suspect he’ll go to Brentford and become number-two goalkeeper, whereas maybe Villa said to him he’s going to be number three for a bit and then maybe look to move you up next season.

“He has made the decision to go Brentford, a very excellent team with a reputation for producing players. Overall though, I think it’s obvious that Villa needs to improve their backup goalkeeper because they currently don’t have a third option.

“It’s kind of back to the drawing board really on the goalkeeper front because I think they won’t make Olsen third choice because of the wage that he’s on; they’ll want to keep him as number two.”

“But by allowing Marschall to go on loan, they’ve now undermined the department.”

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