Aston Villa are sure to endure a tough summer as they're forced to sell their better players to ease their awful financial crisis.

The issues at the West Midlands club have been well-documented, with HMRC serving the club with a winding up order earlier in the month.

Reports suggest they need to raise around £50m which means the likes of Jack Grealish, James Chester and Jonathan Kodjia are sure to depart.

Therefore, there won't be much money available to Steve Bruce to bring players in so he may have to turn to some fringe players to get the most out of his squad.

Here we look at three players who didn't feature much that deserve a chance to impress early on in pre-season...

The centre-back hasn't been used by Bruce much and was sent on loan to Reading in January.

However, after John Terry left the club and Chester looks set to follow, Villa are very short on defenders. He is a leader, experienced and could come good.

The former Forest man arrived as a good Championship midfielder that could control games and offer an attacking threat but it hasn't happened for him at Villa Park.

Bruce should give him a chance to rediscover that form and to prove himself at the club.

The striker has had a disastrous time at Villa and had a public falling out with Bruce.

However, it was a long time ago now and if the side are short up front then it would be stupid of the boss to ignore McCormack.

He is only 31-years old and never relied on pace so he could still make an impact - particularly as no team will pick him up on his current salary.