21-year-old Aston Villa youngster completes EFL loan move - played in the Europa Conference League in 2023
A former Aston Villa FA Youth Cup winner is on the move this summer
Aston Villa academy graduate Tommi O'Reilly has completed a loan move to join League Two promotion hopefuls Crewe Alexander for the duration of the 2025/26 season.
The 21-year old is a boyhood Aston Villa supporter, who has been on the books since the age of seven. He attended the play-off final victory over Derby County in 2019 as a supporter and was handed his first professional contract in March 2022 after impressing then manager Steven Gerrard in first team training.
O'Reilly has a record of eight goals and three assists in 25 matches at Under-18 level across all competitions and also boasts a tally of seven goals and 13 assists in 41 appearances in the Under-21 age group. He’s primarily a central attacking midfielder that operates in the No.10 role but has proven at various points that he can also play as a right-sided winger, left winger and as a central box-to-box midfielder.
He’s only ever played once for Aston Villa at professional level, with his debut coming from the subs bench in the 78th minute against Bosnia & Herzegovina based outfit HŠK Zrinjski Mostar in a 1-1 draw away from home during the Europa Conference League group stage.
Tommi O'Reilly’s professional career so far
Tommi O'Reilly signed for Primera Federación club Real Unión, a sister club of Aston Villa managed by former Aston Villa U21 manager Iñigo Idiakez, on loan during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.
He made only two appearances in Spain’s third-tier before completing another loan move to strugging side Shrewsbury Town at the bottom ofLeague One. O’Reilly played a total of 18 games across all competitions for the Shrews, providing three assists without scoring.
In the January transfer window, Villa made the decision to recall O’Reilly from Shropshire and instead send him back out on loan to League Two outfit MK Dons. He racked up a further 16 appearances at Stadium MK and scored his first professional goal in a 2-1 loss to Fleetwood Town.
O’Reilly started six and was substituted on six times at Shrewsbury but struggled for starts at MK Dons, making just three starts with his remaining 13 appearances coming from the bench.
Tommi O'Reilly tipped to make it to the big time
Tommi O'Reilly is hoping to establish himself as an important player at Crewe Alexander. He was highly rated in the Villa academy for his ability to drift past defenders and create chances for his teammates and was even dubbed by insiders as having qualities reminiscent of both Manchester City playmaker Phil Foden and former Arsenal gem Jack Wilshere, as per Birmingham Mail.
He notably played a role in helping Aston Villa win the FA Youth Cup in 2021 but was an unused substitute for the final against Liverpool.
Crewe finished 13th in League Two last term and were play-off finalists the year prior to that.