Former Aston Villa youth midfielder Hayden Lindley, who recently spent time on trial at Cheltenham Town, has linked up with fellow League One side Northampton Town, according to Pete O’Rourke.
The 20-year-old midfielder spent time on loan at Newport County last season, however he would only make five appearances and failed to impress during his time in Wales. Now, the midfielder is hoping to impress Northampton boss Jon Brady with this move after not having his stay at the Jonny Rocks Stadium extended for the 2023-24 season.
Who is Hayden Lindley?
Born in Huddersfield, Lindley started his career by joining the Blackburn Rovers set-up before being signed by the Manchester City academy.
After nine years at the City academy, Lindley was on the move again – this time to the Villa academy in 2019. In 2021, Lindley made his first-team debut against Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup where Villa had to name a team of inexperienced players due to players being unavailable owing to COVID-19.
During the same year, Lindley was part of the U18’s team that won the FA Youth Cup, beating Liverpool U18’s 2-1 in the final.
On the 24th August 2021, the midfielder came off the bench in place of Frederic Guilbert in Villa’s away EFL Cup victory against Barrow.
On Deadline Day in the 2022 summer window, Lindley made the move to Newport County and made his debut as a substitute in a defeat to Stevenage shortly after. Just three months later, Newport announced that he would be returning to Villa on the 1st of January.
Before the end of the 2022-23 season, it was announced that Lindley would be going to Cheltenham Town for a trial period. He was then released by Aston Villa and with nothing imminent at Cheltenham, the midfielder has found himself at Northampton again on trial looking for a new club.
Writer’s View
Hayden Lindley clearly did not impress Wade Elliott or his coaching staff to earn a deal at Cheltenham whilst he was on trial with the club. The 20-year-old clearly has talent, as he spent nine years at Manchester City’s academy and despite the circumstances, made first-team appearances at Aston Villa albeit those coming in cup games.
Furthermore, he was captain of the U18’s that won the FA Youth Cup against Liverpool – it could be argued he did not do enough at Newport but that was because they were going through a transitional period. Hopefully, he finds his feet at Northampton.
