Aston Villa moved to recall Andre Green from his loan spell in League One with Portsmouth last week, with Stephen Warnock amongst those urging the young winger to learn all he can from Dean Smith.  

Green had managed just 12 appearances for Pompey during the first-half of the season, returning five goals. But the experience of playing at Fratton Park will have done the 20-year-old to world of good, with Green taking his first steps out of Villa Park.

He’s only a short time into his senior career with Villa, but appearances haven’t come consistently due to fierce competition for places and a host of injuries.

However, Smith handed Green over 30 minutes last Saturday against Hull City, with the winger helping Villa to a 2-2 draw with the Tigers.

Warnock, a former Villa Park defender, believes that Smith wouldn’t have recalled Green if more opportunities weren’t around the corner.

“I don’t think he will have brought him back if he wasn’t going to be part of the plans,” the EFL on Quest pundit exclusively told FLW.

“I think what he’s trying to do, Dean Smith, he wants to look at everyone before he makes the decision on them. He needs to see what he can get out of him and whether he can coach him and make him a better player for Aston Villa.”

Smith has a reputation of developing young players from his time at Brentford, with there a hope at Villa Park that he can bring the likes of Green, Callum O’Hare and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy through into the first-team on a regular basis.

Warnock believes this is a real opportunity for Green, who must listen to Smith and find out what he wants from his wide players.

“For Green, he’s got to see this as an opportunity to go back and impress the manager,” the 37-year-old continued.

“The first thing he should be doing is going to the manager and asking, ‘what do you want from me? What do you expect of me?’ Then you try and hit those targets.

“You listen to him, you listen to how he wants to improve you because Dean Smith is a fantastic coach and you can learn so much from him.”

Green will be looking for more minutes this weekend when Villa look to return to winning ways against Ipswich Town.

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