The future of Aston Villa midfielder Henri Lansbury remains up in the air heading towards the January transfer window. 

The 30-year-old has struggled for consistent game time in recent seasons with Dean Smith's side, which is somewhat understandable given the options that the Aston Villa manager has available to him.

Lansbury has only made three appearances this season, all of which came in Aston Villa's EFL Cup campaign this term.

So, it remains to be seen as to whether he has much of a future at Villa Park heading towards the New Year, as Smith's men look to build on some impressive performances this season.

Speaking in an interview with Football Insider, former Sunderland and West Brom forward Kevin Phillips felt as though Lansbury will move back into the Championship in the coming months.

"Yeah I think he will move back to the Championship in January. I would imagine that his time at Villa is up. He has had a good little run.

"At times he has come in and done well and scored some good goals but you not would not say that it has been a huge success.

"With the amount of players that Dean has in his squad now, there was always going to be casualties. It is no surprise that he missed out on the Premier League squad."

Phillips went on to name-drop Nottingham Forest as a potential destination for Lansbury, with the midfielder previously playing his football at the City Ground earlier in his career before moving to Aston Villa.

"It is down to Lansbury but he looks like a player that loves his football.

"He may go back to Forest, you never know. He might head back there in January and help Chris Hughton tackle the Championship. It would certainly not surprise me if he signed for Forest in January."

Nottingham Forest are currently sat 19th in the Championship table after a poor start to the season, and will be looking to pick up points in their next match against Luton Town on Wednesday evening.

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The Verdict: 

I have to agree with Phillips here.

Lansbury isn't going to be getting the regular minutes he'll want at this stage of his career with Aston Villa in the Premier League, and I'd be looking at a move back into the Championship in January's transfer window.

His experience at that level could come in useful to a number of teams this season, but I'm not convinced that Nottingham Forest would be the ideal team for him to move to.

The Reds already have some strong options available to them in midfield, and I don't think it would be a wise move for either party involved.