Aston Villa have surprisingly been linked with an interest in Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe.
It will be difficult to think of too many players within the Aston Villa squad who would not relish the idea of Eddie Howe becoming the club’s new manager amid reports from the Daily Record that the Villans have their eye on the Bournemouth boss as they continue their search for Steve Bruce’s successor.
It seems incredibly unlikely that Howe would be tempted to drop down into the Championship after taking the Cherries into the top six of the Premier League at the start of this season. But the Villa players would undoubtedly be excited about the prospect of Howe taking the job.
But perhaps one player would be more keen than any other on Villa’s books to see Howe arrive after what has been an incredibly difficult spell with the Villans to date.
Tommy Elphick is currently spending the season at Hull City, and, as reported by the Hull Daily Mail last month, is in the last year of his contract with the Villans, so the smart money certainly suggests that he has already played his final game for Villa.
But if Howe arrives, perhaps there is a chance that Elphick’s Villa career may receive a second chance given the success that the pair enjoyed at the Vitality Stadium before the defender chose to join the Villans in 2016.
Elphick captained Bournemouth to two promotions on their way to the Premier League. And with Villa having hardly any options at the heart of the defence right now, Elphick could be the kind of player that Howe may look at reintroducing into the fold when he can if he takes the job.
It would be a massive surprise if Howe did have any interest in taking the job, but perhaps that appointment would represent Elphick’s only chance to save his Villa career as his contract runs down.
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