Aston Villa spent a sizeable amount of money in their inaugural Championship campaign, and had only a 13th place finish to show for it. 

Roberto Di Matteo and now his successor Steve Bruce, have been accused of cluttering the squad and doing too much too soon in regards to bedding players in, with sixteen coming through the Villa Park door last season.

Owner, Tony Xia, has pledged further transfer funds to improve on their uninspiring attempt at promotion at the first attempt.

But the Chairman, who could be accused of adapting a gung-ho approach of throwing money at the club's long-standing issues, will surely acknowledge that there should be something of a mini-clear out , and may have to cut their losses on some of the frivolous purchases they indulged in last season.

With the promise of generous transfer kitty, Steve Bruce should look to offload these TWO players to make way....

 

Ross McCormack

Ross McCormack's position at Villa is untenable as long as Steve Bruce remains as manager, and he burned a lot of bridges in a bust up with the boss, after he failed to report to training because of a 'broken gate', much to the bemusement of Bruce.

He was subsequently sent on loan to Forest last February, and it does not look like McCormack will be gracing the Villa Park pitch again anytime soon, at least in claret and blue.

Last season's top scorer, Jonathan Kodjia and January signing, Scott Hogan will ensure that McCormack's departure is barely a concern, as Villa have ample backup and even if the full £12 million fee they paid for him isn't recouped, it should be relatively straightforward to sell him .

 

Carles Gil

Carles Gil impressed at times on his loan on at Deportivo last season and at one stage had more assists than Ronaldo and Messi.

However, much like his time at Villa, he was all too inconsistent and bursts of brilliance were unfortunately in lesser measures than disappearances in games.

Gill does not have the workmanlike attributes required to succeed in the Championship, and the 24-year-old winger is probably not too keen on Tuesday night trips to Burton and the likes.

Having spent less than £3.5 million on Gil, Villa should be able to recuperate the full total, and his flashes of brilliance in La Liga should bring forward some suitors.