Charlton and Coventry look to do battle in the race to sign Aston Villa’s Rushian Hepburn-Murphy this month.

The 20-year-old academy product is keen to get game time that's been hard to come by at Villa Park and League One can offer him that opportunity.

Charlton’s front line is currently lead by the in-form duo of Karlan Grant and Lyle Taylor, but it's thought that Lee Bowyer is keen to bolster his options as they push for promotion.

A loan move to The Valley would offer the man who has not played for the West Midlands outfit since September the game time he wants.

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What would he bring?

RHM is an extremely quick and skilful, who has great finishing and ball control qualities.

Having represented England at every level from U16 to U20’s, Hepburn-Murphy remains the fourth youngest player to make a Premier League appearance after replacing Christian Benteke at Sunderland in 2015.

Coventry are also in the hunt for Hepburn-Murphy and feel that geographically they hold the upper-hand in luring the sought after forward.

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Current Villa manager Dean Smith is open to letting his crop of youngsters leave on loan offering optimism that a deal can be done.

“These under-23s need to go and play men’s football,” said Smith.

“They come back better players and better people.

"They go out and see the real world playing alongside some seasoned professionals who rely on winning games for bonuses.

"Going out on loan to me is something that’s really important for their development and it’s something that we’re keen to do.”