Aston Villa's academy has been good to them over the years. 

With the first-team now spearheaded by Jack Grealish after his progression through the ranks into an England superstar, young Jacob Ramsey looks an exciting prospect too as he begins to make his mark in the first-team.

According to The Athletic, the club have even better plans for their youth players, too. 

While writing in his column, David Ornstein has revealed that top brass at Villa Park are intent on transforming their academy into one of the most productive in the country. 

With that in mind, many of their youth players are likely to stay in the upcoming January transfer market despite reported lower-league interest in the likes of Jaden Philogene-Bidace and Louie Barry. 

Having seen what the academy do first hand in recent years as Grealish continues to scale new heights, this looks like a really productive move for Villa. 

Though they haven't been shy about spending since returning to the Premier League but, for long-term success, nurturing talent to star in the first-team is surely a more financially savvy way of operating. 

They've proven they can do it to major success before so even peppering what is already a reasonably young nucleus of a team going forward with more options grown in-house could save funds to really go after marquee players in the future. 

Their U23 side currently sit in sixth position in Premier League 2 though only three points off the top, so are performing reasonably well as it is. 

Indeed, the future could be bright for Villa.