Whilst Aston Villa have been spending money during the window to bring new faces in, there are still a lot of players in the club who are likely a surplus to requirements and therefore may well be shipped off before the end of the window. Villa don’t want to make the mistake of having players on their wage bill who won’t be utilised and Tim Sherwood knows this. These five players are likely to leave before the end of the summer.
Five Players Likely to Exit from Aston Villa
Alan Hutton
The Scottish International has always had a reputation for being a solid full-back with the ability to dart forward. Since joining under Alex McLeish, Hutton has failed to impress consistently at Villa Park, especially after his poor start under the former Birmingham City manager. Under McLeish, Villa were under constant bombardment at the back where Hutton was prone to error and always looked uncomfortable.
Due to his high wages and the signing of a young Matthew Lowton he was shipped to the infamous Paul Lambert ‘Bomb Squad’ and struggled to get into the side until last season where he finally produced some good performances. Hutton is now a fairly solid option at right-back. However, it is evident that Sherwood prefers full-backs who can go forward and provide a final delivery — something Hutton struggles to do. Saying that, it’s unlikely that he’d be the first name on the list to leave — Aston Villa would not be happy to have Leandro Bacuna and Jose Angel Crespo as the only two options at right-back.
Kieran Richardson
Kieran Richardson started off making a few sporadic appearances last season under Paul Lambert, finding it difficult to impress in midfield (always lacking a delivery) and to break into the left-back position held by Aly Cissokho. At this stage of his career, Richardson knows it’ll be hard to break in ahead of Jordan Amavi and may be tempted by the opportunity to be a regular starter at a defensively broken Sunderland team.
Richardson still has something to prove as glimpses of his potential from his Manchester United and England days still show every now and then. He’s an incredibly energetic full-back and is adept at dealing with danger whilst also being able to dart forward with pace. Sherwood won’t let him go without signing another left-back. Then again, Villa still have Joe Bennett — remember?
Alexander Tonev
The Bulgarian number 10 was signed upon recommendation from Stiliyan Petrov during Paul Lambert’s spending spree in 2013, where he signed a ridiculous amount of European talent that didn’t get game time. Tonev always showed flashes of brilliance but far too often would beat two or three defenders and sky his shot over the bar. There was always that rawness of a talented 19-year old-fresh into professional football, yet Tonev is now 25 and needs to find a career somewhere.
There was also the whole Celtic incident where he was accused of racially abusing a player on the pitch which led to a seven-match ban whilst he was on loan. It’s fair to say he’s not in Tim Sherwood’s plans and Villa will likely see the back of him by the end of the window.
Charles N’Zogbia
This is perhaps my most disappointing one, and he’s always going to be associated with the failure at Villa as he was one of the replacements for the old Young/Milner/Downing midfield. N’Zogbia never had a fair chance, and whenever he had played under McLeish or Paul Lambert, there were times where he looked like one of the few players who could change the game out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, at 29 Charles seems to have lost that fitness and guile that got him noticed at Newcastle United and at Wigan Athletic, where he’d saved the team from relegation with his goals and made two appearances for the France national team. He will not be untapped, and with number of wingers now ahead of him he won’t feature in the team’s plans.
Phillipe Senderos
Senderos looked fantastic at the back with Ron Vlaar last season until they both got injured. Senderos is a talented player who’s been at some of the world’s top clubs (Arsenal, AC Milan) but also had a reputation for being poor at times for Fulham who’d been relegated the season before. He always seemed to be an underrated defender as he looked solid when he actually played last season.
Saying that, Tim Sherwood wants a certain degree of fitness at the club and it is unlikely Senderos would be able to have a decent run of game time having spent so long out with injury problems. He’s likely to leave, should an offer come in for him.
