With Thierry Henry ruling himself out of the running for the managerial role at Aston Villa, Rui Faria has emerged as the favourite to succeed Steve Bruce at Villa Park. 

Jose Mourinho's former assistant has become the frontrunner for the role at the Championship club and he faces a tough task to fire up an under-performing Aston Villa side that are struggling in 15th place in the league, with no wins in their last four matches.

Faria has been assistant to Mourinho at FC Porto, Inter Milan, Chelsea (x2) and most recently, Manchester United.

But with him emerging as the favourite for the role, Faria seems to be ready to make the step into football management, having not previously managed a club.

But with an under-performing  squad to take charge of, who should Faria be looking to sell at the earliest opportunity?

Find out who he should look to axe from the squad here....

Many fans will still forget that McCormack is still contracted to Aston Villa, but he somehow still is.

He is currently on loan at Australian side Central Coast Mariners where he is yet to make an appearance this season. Faria will be hopeful of sorting the situation regarding McCormack out as soon as possible.

The 23-year-old has struggled to settle into life at Villa Park since his arrival in July 2016. He has only made ten appearances for Villa and has been sent out on loan to Scottish side Kilmarnock this season where he has made 14 appearances this season, scoring once.

With the arrival on John McGinn, Tshibola is unlikely to be able to force his way through to the first team anytime soon.