Aston Villa and Norwich City boosted in battle for highly-rated goalkeeper

Could this give Steven Gerrard some hope of landing one of his reported targets.
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Aston Villa are believed to be monitoring the progress of Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Michael Cooper.

With reports suggesting number one Emi Martinez is a target for La Liga giants, it should be no surprise to see Villa assessing their options between the sticks.

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One stopper that has reportedly come across their radar is Argyle keeper Cooper, who has shone during the opening two months of their League One campaign.

The 22-year-old has kept five clean sheets in his opening 10 appearances and was in impressive form once again as the Pilgrims came from a goal down to claim a 2-1 home win against Ipswich Town on Sunday afternoon.

Recent speculation has suggested Cooper is a target for Villa and Championship club Norwich City after helping Argyle to the top of the League One table.

And manager Stephen Schumacher has revealed he already has a suitable replacement in Callum Burton should his first-choice stopper depart the club over the coming months.

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He told Plymouth Live, Schumacher said: “He [Burton]’s a very good goalkeeper. Since he has been here, his training performances and performances when he has played the games has been very good.

“He is a real good character in the group. It’s a difficult position sometimes to be a number two, but he understands and he pushes Michael every single day in training.

“I think we are getting the performances that you get out of Michael because he knows he has to play well because he has got somebody who is competing with him.

“So it was important then that we secured Callum for next year and give him a bit of security as well. Whatever happens with Michael in the future, if Callum is going to be here then we have got a more than capable goalkeeper to fill in and play.”

Cooper will be back in action when his side visit Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

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