2 youth products and £38.1m worth of signings in Aston Villa second XI

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HITC predicts what Aston Villa’s second XI would look like and although not first choice, they are an expensive bunch.

Aston Villa players celebrate their first goal, scored by Scott Hogan (3rd R), during the Carabao Cup First Round match against Colchester United.

Aston Villa will be hoping for a better showing in the Championship this season than their first back in the second tier in 2016/17 when they finished 13th.

It has not been a great start to the campaign for Steve Bruce’s men, though, with one win, two draws and two defeats leaving them in 18th position currently and one point outside of the relegation zone.

Steve Bruce, manager of Aston Villa, during the Sky Bet Championship match against Bristol City.

It has been another busy summer of transfer business for the Birmingham club, although did not quite compete with their spending from 12 months ago.

Assuming all of his squad were fit, Bruce could quite easily field two teams and if that were the case, here is the second XI the 57-year-old may send out.

It’s a little difficult to predict just who would be first in the pecking order in some positions, but it is safe to say goalkeeper Jed Steer is behind Sam Johnstone and captain John Terry and James Chester are ahead of Tommy Elphick and Chris Samba.

Right-back has varied depending on the system, although Ahmed Elmohamady and Alan Hutton appear to be preferred ahead of James Bree, while the departure of Jordan Amavi and Aly Cissokho means Ritchie de Laet is now deputy to Neil Taylor at left-back.

Mile Jedinak is currently injured but will be competing with Glenn Whelan for a place in central midfield, while Henri Lansbury may have been used this term but is behind Conor Hourihane in the pecking order.

Andre Green has been the breakout star for the Villans in 2017/18, but when fit Jack Grealish is probably the preferred choice, while veterans Ross McCormack and Gabby Agbonlahor are no longer quite the powerhouses in attack they once were.

Finally, Jonathan Kodjia, when fit, would be ahead of Scott Hogan, but despite supposedly being the second string, this XI cost the Birmingham club £38.1m in transfer fees – with all but Steer out of those signed last campaign. Samba was the only free agent, while Green and Agbonlahor are products of the academy.