OPINION
Dean Smith has inherited a very unbalanced squad at Aston Villa and while he will not be able to do anything about it until January, the new Villains boss is already reported to be making plans ahead of the next transfer window.
According to a new report by the Mirror, Smith has made re-signing Barry Bannan from Sheffield Wednesday his top priority for the winter, even though he already has a wealth of central midfield options to his disposal.
John McGinn, Birkir Bjarnason, Conor Hourihane, Glenn Whelan and Mile Jedinak all look as though they have roles to play at Villa Park under Smith’s leadership, but one player who has failed to make a single league appearance this season for both him and Steve Bruce is Henri Lansbury.
The 28-year-old has only been seen once this season when he played 90 minutes of Aston Villa’s Carabao Cup defeat to Burton Albion, and given the fact that Smith is now reportedly looking at Bannan, the writing is on the wall for the former Nottingham Forest midfielder.
Lansbury has hardly been a good signing for Villa anyway and his presence is a reminder of how poorly the club has operated in the transfer market since dropping into the Championship.
It was obviously bad before relegation from the Premier League, but neither Bruce or Roberto di Matteo have been able to put together a squad worthy of promotion even though they have had big budgets and have been in charge of one of the most reputable clubs in the league.
Given the interest in Bannan, Smith wants to revamp the squad but to do that he has to sell players as well as buying them.
It is likely that Lansbury will be offloaded if Bannan is signed or he could even be forced out of the club anyway given the fact he has played so little in the last year.