Has Steve Bruce lost patience with Spurs youngster Josh Onomah?

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Aston Villa loanee Josh Onomah’s loan move from Tottenham Hotspur is not exactly going to plan.

With Mauricio Pochettino clearly not afraid to hand young players a chance in his Tottenham side, Josh Onomah would have known how vital it was that he made the most of his loan spell at Aston Villa this season.

Onomah has previously been one of the brighter talents coming through at Spurs, and a spell in the Championship seemed to give him the perfect platform to prove that he can still realise that potential in the future.

However, based on Steve Bruce’s team selection for the Villans’ most recent game, it would appear that he may be starting to lose his patience with the 20-year-old, who has been struggling for form for a while now.

Onomah was picked on the bench for Villa’s trip to the Championship’s bottom side Sunderland at the Stadium of Light having been hooked off an hour into their previous encounter – and his cause in that game was not helped by the fact that Villa were 2-1 down when he was replaced and went on to win 4-2.

Against Sunderland on Tuesday night, Villa were 3-0 up when Bruce decided to make his second change of the game, bringing Jack Grealish on for Scott Hogan.

With the three points virtually wrapped up, it may have been the perfect time to bring Onomah on for the third change to allow him to get some confidence back in his game – he did score the goal that would prove to be the winner when the two sides met earlier in the season.

However, Bruce decided to replace Lewis Grabban with Birkir Bjarnason. Grabban had been playing off the striker for much of the game, and that is a position that Onomah has been used in most regularly this term, so the fact that Bruce decided to throw Bjarnason just hints that the Spurs-owned youngster is not impressing enough.

And it must be a slightly ominous sign for Onomah if he has slipped right down the pecking order at Villa Park, as it does not bode well for his chances of making the grade with Pochettino’s side upon his return.