‘Aston Villa fans would take’: Agbonlahor shares how Gerrard can be a success this term

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Gabby Agbonlahor has told talkSPORT that two factors will determine if Steven Gerrard has a successful first season as the new Aston Villa manager after leaving Rangers on Thursday.

The Villans have hired Gerrard to replace Dean Smith on a three-and-a-half-year contract after sacking their promotion-clinching boss last Sunday.

Smith departed the Birmingham outfit with the Villans only two-points clear of the Premier League relegation zone after five-straight defeats.

Smith had led Aston Villa to an 11th-place finish last season, after securing their top-flight status on the final day of the 2019/20 campaign. Clinching a vital 1-1 draw at West Ham to ensure Bournemouth and Watford joined Norwich in dropping into the Championship.

Aston Villa owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris will have wanted Smith to challenge for a top-half finish this term. Especially after spending £93m of the £100m Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish during the summer transfer window.

Smith, however, failed to get the most out of £30m signing Leon Bailey – mostly through injuries – or £38m Emiliano Buendia.

Smith’s failures are Gerrard’s requirements as new Aston Villa manager for Agbonlahor

So, Agbonlahor believes Aston Villa fans will consider Gerrard’s first season as manager a success if he can lead the Villa Park natives into the top-half and gets Smith’s signings firing.

“He just needs to get in there, get the new signings firing and try and finish the season top-10,” Agbonlahor said. “I think Aston Villa fans would take top-10.

“Then next season, push on again. Maybe be able to bring in a couple of signings, change a couple of players, get rid of a couple of players.

“Then start looking at that top-six. That will be the plan over the next three-years – challenging to get into the European places.”

Aston Villa will certainly want Gerrard to get more out of Buendia than Smith could now he is their manager.

Buendia’s capture from Norwich as the Championship Player of the Season marked a new club-record for the Villa Park outfit. But he is yet to match those same levels this term.

The 24-year-old scored 15 and assisted 17 goals in 39 second-tier outings as the Canaries clinched the 2020/21 title. Yet has only scored once and assisted once in nine top-flight games in claret-and-blue so far.