McCormack has scored just three goals for Villa and has been linked with a move away.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has sent a message to Ross McCormack advising him that now is his time to start firing, as reported by the Birmingham Mail.
Villa paid £12 million to bring McCormack, one of the Championship’s most lethal goalscorers in recent years, to Villa Park from Fulham in the summer.
However, the 30-year-old has found the net just three times in 22 appearances so far this term, often playing second fiddle to the likes of Jonathan Kodjia and Rudy Gestede.
With Kodjia at the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast, and Gestede sold to Middlesbrough earlier this month, McCormack has become a more central figure for Villa.
However, he has failed to impress thus far, as Villa have lost all three games without scoring a single goal since Kodjia’s temporary departure.
Now, Bruce has made it clear in no uncertain terms that now is the time McCormack needs to step up if he is to convince his manager and the club that he can be a leading man in B6 for the foreseeable future.
Bruce said, via the Birmingham Mail: “It’s fair to say it is his turn now. He has had a difficult three or four months – he has always found the Championship easy and this is the first time in four or five years he has found it difficult for one reason or another.
“I hope he can rediscover it because it’s why he was brought here to get a goal or two. All strikers thrive off goals and he is the same.
“I’ve seen enough of him over the years to know what Ross McCormack is all about. Unfortunately we haven’t seen the best of him here for one reason or another, which sometimes happens.
“Everything has been changed for him and it hasn’t quite worked for him just yet, so let’s hope that now for the second half of the season he can come good. Hopefully he can be the one that takes us where we want to get to.”
That is a pretty clear call-to-arms from Bruce to his striker, and McCormack will know he needs to start producing the goods if he is to convince manager, fans and pundits alike that he can still do the job.
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