Gabby Agbonlahor believes the ‘ruthless’ Steven Gerrard will make big changes at Aston Villa this summer with Trezeguet and Anwar El Ghazi two players with no future at the Premier league giants, speaking to talkSPORT (27 April, 9.50am).
As Rangers supporters will tell you, Gerrard is not a manager who readily accepts anything less than the loftiest of standards.
So, with Aston Villa on a run of five games without a win, a day of reckoning could soon be arriving at Bodymoor Heath.
Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Morgan Sanson – three players who set the club back nearly £80 million – are already facing uncertain futures, despite only joining the Midland giants a year ago (Mirror).
Douglas Luiz, Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa, meanwhile, could pay the price for a substantial dip in form over the last 12 months or so, especially with Gerrard keeping a close eye on Marseille duo Boubacar Kamara and Duje Caleta-Car, plus the likes of Geoffrey Kondogbia and Yves Bissouma.
Which players will leave Aston Villa?
And Agbonlahor, the former Villa captain, believes the team who kick off 2022/23 could look very different from the one Gerrard inherited from Dean Smith back in November.
“He obviously came in and you had that new manager bounce. But I think he’s still looking at his squad of players and deciding (who’s good enough),” says Agbonlahor.
“(He’s thinking) ‘Who am I going to have in the summer?’ He’s already (got rid of) Trezeguet and (Anwar) El Ghazi. He’s got players in that squad who he’s thinking; ‘you know what, don’t come back in pre-season’.
“I think he’ll have that ruthlessness about him. He’ll have targets he’ll want to bring in. And I think he still needs time to sort out that team. He needs time to bring in his own players.”
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Trezeguet and El Ghazi, regular fixtures under Smith, were farmed out on loan in January, joining Istanbul Basaksehir and Everton respectively. It’s fair to say that things have gone rather differently for both players in their new surroundings.
While Trezeguet has five goals in nine Turkish Super Lig matches, El Ghazi has played just 11 minutes of football in Everton colours.
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