Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has confirmed that senior favourites Jack Grealish, Jonathan Kodjia and James Chester were on the chopping block as the club found themselves in the midst of a financial crisis.
The Villans were widely reported to be facing serious monetary issues after failing to secure a place back in the Premier League, falling at the final hurdle in the shape of the play off final.
New ownership has ensured that the club are in a strong position once again, but Bruce has revealed the desperate measures that were in place simply to help provide the wages for those at Villa Park.
He told the Birmingham Mail: “Four weeks ago, I was thinking that we’re selling Grealish, Kodjia and Chester just to pay everybody their wages.
“So, it’s very quickly changed and we’ve managed to get a good player in (John McGinn), too.
“I think he will be a firm favourite with everybody. If I had anything wrong with last season it was that we were an ageing squad.
“We’re trying to bring it down because it’s vitally important to do that.”
Opinion
Bruce’s comments show just how close the club came to suffering a serious blow to any hopes of returning to the top flight, with the aforementioned trio among their best performers over recent season. All three of them are crucial to the core of the first team and losing one would have been a tough pill to swallow for both Bruce and the Villa fans, let alone each of them. Now, Bruce has got to repay the faith shown in him by the new owners by taking this experienced but expensive squad to some sort of success, and that can only be done by pushing for a promotion spot. Anything less than that is a failure, and you can be certain that much of this squad, not to mention Bruce, will be out the door if they once again fail to meet their goals of a return to the Premier League.