Kerr Smith: Dundee United defender, 17, joins Aston Villa for undisclosed fee
- Published
Kerr Smith is the youngest player to feature in a Dundee derby after helping United to a 1-0 win in September at the age of 16 years, nine months and seven days
Teenage defender Kerr Smith has joined Aston Villa from Dundee United in a move that may hasten Motherwell striker Tony Watt's arrival at Tannadice.
Scotland Under-19 international Smith, 17, joins Steven Gerrard's Premier League club for an undisclosed fee.
That could make money available to buy Watt, who is due to arrive in summer having signed a pre-contract.
"There are regular discussions going on regarding multiple scenarios," said head coach Thomas Courts.
"Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll start to see a bit of a breakthrough."
Scotland cap Watt, 28, is the Scottish Premiership's top scorer this season with nine goals and United will be the 13th club, including loans spells, of his nomadic career.
"He's now at the stage of his life where he understands who he is as a player, what he wants out of his profession and he appears to be in a very rich run of goalscoring form," added Courts.
"The key thing for me is he complements what we already have and actually enhances what we want to do in terms of style of play."
Smith, who had been with United since age seven, departs after 12 first-team appearances having made his debut against Rangers last February.
He will continue his development in Villa's academy.
In a statement, the Tannadice club said: "Everyone at Dundee United would like to extend our congratulations to Kerr and wish him all the best for the future, and we will follow his career with pride."
Courts confirmed Kevin McDonald is training with United as the 34-year-old former Scotland and Fulham midfielder looks to return to action following a kidney transplant.
"Kevin is obviously from the area as a young guy," he said. "We are looking at a couple of different options and Kevin was presented to us as one to come in and train."