Aston Villa are welcoming former Crystal Palace man Jordon Mutch to their Bodymoor Heath training base this week, as reported by journalist Mike McGrath.

The 27-year-old left Selhurst Park at the beginning on the month by mutual consent after failing to make an impression for Roy Hodgson's side. He's been on loan with Vancouver Whitecaps and Reading in recent seasons as his top flight career faltered.

Mutch started out at Birmingham City and had a permanent spell with Cardiff City before Queens Park Rangers paid £6m for his services.

His Loftus Road career never got off the ground and after just nine league appearances he was on the move again, joining Palace for a fee of around £4.75m in 2015.

Mutch is a central midfielder, box to box but favouring the more traditional midfield role over either sitting in the hole or in front of the defence.

He'll now be looking to impress Dean Smith in order to win a contract a get his career back on track after four seasons of struggle and decline.

The Verdict

Mutch is someone with lots of unfulfilled potential, a player who has made one or two moves in his career that simply haven't panned out as he would have hoped.

He needs to settle somewhere and be given a chance to impress, with the Championship a good destination. Would he be suitable for Villa if they went up? Probably not, but as things stand their promotion is highly unlikely this season anyway.