The new Aston Villa boss has his work cut out if he’s to deliver his fifth promotion from the second tier.
Danny Murphy has shared with Talksport his belief that new Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce may have to work with what he’s for the rest of this season.
Bruce was sworn in as Roberto Di Matteo’s replacement on Wednesday, and finds the Villa side he’s inherited languishing in 19th place.
The Villans’ lowly position should only increase Bruce’s desire to add to his squad come the January transfer window, but according to Murphy, the 56-year-old needn’t get his hopes up.
“Normally when he goes to a club, he likes to bring in his own type of player and spend a few quid,” the former England international told Talksport.
“Now, the money they’ve already spent would suggest to me that there’s not much more in the kitty, so he’s going to have to work with what he’s got.
“That’s fine, because the squad is decent but there might be one or two areas where he thinks: ‘not quite happy with him’, because they’re not his players are they?
“Are they going to give him more money in January to go again and get some of his own, then you’ve got a surplus of player he doesn’t fancy who no-one will take them on because they’re on big dough.”
Villa’s net spend during the summer transfer window was close to £40 million, with nine new faces arriving post-relegation.
However, according to Villans owner Tony Xia, not a penny of their parachute payments has been spent on transfer fees so far, suggesting there could be more funds for Bruce to dip into.
Bruce has already been linked with moves for two of his former Hull City players, Ahmed Elmohamady and Abel Hernandez.
However, the latter’s acquisition is perhaps unrealistic, given that Villa spent around £30 million on strikers during the summer transfer window, not to mention Hull’s apparent £20 million asking price.
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