Aston Villa transfer update: Approaches made for £12m striker - Sky

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Published on:

25 Jan 2017, 6:03 am

By Harry Sykes

Aston Villa have fielded a number of approaches for controversial striker Ross McCormack, according to a report.

Sky Sports claim on their transfer centre blog (Wednesday, 11.08am) that the Scotland international has been the subject of enquiries.

But it is said that the Championship big hitters have yet to receive any formal bids for the player who broke the then second-tier record when he signed for £12million last summer.

McCormack's situation has been thrust into the spotlight after Steve Bruce took the decision to publicly shame him at the weekend for skipping several training sessions.

Bruce took the drastic measure of outing McCormack for missing training, bad time-keeping and a poor attitude and explained how the player had come up with the feeble excuse that he could not get to the club's Bodymoor Heath training headquarters because the electric gates of his house were faulty.

The forward, 30, was demoted to Villa's Under-23s at the start of the week as speculation increased that he will leave the Midlands giants in the final week of the window.

It appears that Bruce is on the lookout for a new striker to replace the Championship goal machine, with reports on Wednesday that the manager has turned his attention to prising Chuba Akpom from Arsenal on loan for the remainder of the season.

McCormack has had a disappointing campaign for Villa, scoring just three goals in 20 Championship matches, a far cry from the prolific form he consistently displayed for former clubs Fulham and Leeds.

At Craven Cottage last season, the versatile front man chipped in with 23 goals from 49 appearances, including 21 strikes and 10 assists from 45 league matches.

In other Aston Villa transfer news, speculation of a sensational forward deal intensified on Saturday evening.

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Aston Villa

Ross McCormack