Despite making an impressive start to life as Aston Villa manager a couple of months ago, Dean Smith is really struggling to make an impact at the club in recent times.

The former Brentford manager won five out of his first eight league games at the helm of the Villans, picking up some impressive results, including two 3-0 away wins at promotion rivals Derby County and Middlesbrough.

But a recent run of just one win in their previous seven league outings has threatened to de-rail what looked to be a definite push for the play-offs, and with the West Midlands club now sitting 12th in the league, five points off the play-offs, changes definitely still need to be made in this transfer window.

Reports have recently surfaced that impressive youngster Callum O'Hare could be on his way out of Villa Park in January, with the likes of Bristol Rovers, Burton Albion and Exeter City looking to pursue his signature in January, but Villa fans will undoubtedly want to see more than a 20-year old youngster depart the club this month.

With that being said, here, we take a look at three players that could follow Callum O'Hare out of Aston Villa in the coming weeks...

Micah Richards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It comes as a massive surprise to see that Micah Richards is still on Aston Villa's books.

The 30-year old hasn't featured for the Villans since October 2016 in a 1-1 draw against Wolves, and hasn't been named in the matchday squad since Villa's 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Middlesbrough in September 2017.

It's absolutely criminal, from a Villa perspective, that Richards is still picking up what is likely to be a hefty wage package despite not featuring for well over two years, but with reports claiming that Celtic are looking to sign him in January, Villa simply need to get rid of the experienced defender in order to free up some wages, and perhaps strengthen their back-line this month.

Henri Lansbury

It's probably been a couple of years to forget for Henri Lansbury since joining Villa from Nottingham Forest in January 2017.

The 28-year old fell massively out of favour under Steve Bruce towards the latter stages of his tenure at Villa Park, and hasn't really made an impact under Smith due to injury problems, making only three appearances for the club this term.

Villa have a plethora of talented midfielders in their ranks, and with the likes of Birkir Bjarnason and Jack Grealish still looking to make a return from injury, Lansbury should really escape Villa Park in January to try and reignite his career.

Mark Bunn

After the signing of Lovre Kalinic, Bunn is another player who has fallen massively out of favour at Villa Park.

The 34-year old has made just one appearance for Villa this season, falling behind the likes of Kalinic, Orjan Nyland, Andre Moreira and Jed Steer in the pecking order.

After recalling the latter from his loan spell at Charlton a few weeks ago, that was probably the final nail in Bunn's coffin at Villa Park, and with five senior goalkeepers in their ranks, he needs to leave to gain regular game-time elsewhere in the final stages of his playing career.