Plymouth Argyle have Kaine Kesler-Hayden replacement lined up

The 21-year-old defender has been recalled from his Home Park loan by Premier League title challengers Aston Villa

Plymouth Argyle have been told that Kaine Kesler-Hayden has been recalled from his loan spell by Premier League title challengers Aston Villa to be involved with their first team squad.

Argyle director of football Neil Dewsnip has also confirmed that a replacement for the 21-year-old defender will be announced by the Pilgrims 'in the near future'. He received a phone call from Aston Villa's head of emerging talent and loans, Adam Henshall, at around 6.30pm last night to inform him that they were exercising a recall option in his loan deal.

Kesler-Hayden had started in the 1-1 Championship draw away to Huddersfield Town before being replaced at right wing-back by Joe Edwards in the 65th minute.

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Unai Emery's Villa side are currently in third position in the Premier League, just three points behind leaders Liverpool, and Kesler-Hayden will provide competition for right-back and Poland international Matty Cash.

Villa named eight substitutes, instead of the allowed maximum of nine, for their away Premier League game against Everton today.

Dewsnip told Plymouth Live: "The reason Kaine has been recalled is to be part of Aston Villa's first team squad. I am assured he is going nowhere else. We are already well down the line to finding a replacement for Kaine in the near future, but I can't tell you the name at the moment."

Kesler-Hayden has made 19 starts and five substitute appearances for Argyle in the Championship this season. He becomes the fourth player to leave the club since the start of the January transfer window. It follows the departures of on-loan duo Finn Azaz and Luke Cundle, who were recalled by Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively, and Macaulay Gillesphey.

Azaz was subsequently sold to Middlesbrough in a £2.5 million transfer while Cundle joined Steven Schumacher's Stoke City on loan and Gillesphey was sold to League One outfit Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

An Argyle statement released at 11.30am today said: "Defender Kaine Kesler-Hayden will return to his parent club Aston Villa after the Midlands side exercised a recall option in his contract. The 21-year-old has made 27 appearances for Argyle since joining at the end of June. We thank Kaine for his efforts since he joined the club and wish him all the best for the future."

As it stands, Argyle now have three loan signings - defender Ashley Phillips (Tottenham Hotspur) and midfielder Darko Gyabi (Leeds United), who both made their debuts against Huddersfield, and injured midfielder Lewis Warrington (Everton).

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