'He's a bad influence on the dressing room' - Ex-Villa employee swipes at Aston Villa player
Aston Villa winger Alejandro Garnacho is rapidly losing patience with the lack of football he is receiving during his loan spell.
That is according to former Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that there will be genuine concern about the 22-year-old becoming a "bad influence" around the club.
Garnacho joined the Villans on loan from Chelsea in the summer, but has played just 31 minutes of Premier League football so far, and is still waiting for his first competitive start of the season.
Wyness believes that the Argentine is at the stage where the only way he can prove his worth to Unai Emery is by continually impressing with his work on the training ground.
Several fans suspected in the summer that the Spanish boss could finally be the man to get the best out of the youngster, but that hasn't proved to be the case so far.
Villa have a conditional obligation to buy Garnacho as part of their current loan agreement, but at the moment, there is little sign of him being anything more than a fringe player this season.
Unai Emery losing patience with Alejandro Garnacho
Villa's former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs - believes that Emery will also be growing annoyed with Garnacho's lack of consistency.
The wideman scored in a recent friendly with Sevilla during the October international break, but hasn't been able to build on that positive display at all.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained how the ball is now in Garnacho's court in order to prove his worth.
"Well, we all hoped before the season started that Emery would have the key to the Garnacho puzzle," he said.
"You don't want an asset like that sitting around the dressing room, because I'm sure that he's a certain personality that might be a bad influence on the dressing room. I don't know him personally, but I'd imagine any frustrated player would be the same, not just him.
"Garnacho is going to have to show him on the training ground whether he's worth that risk or not and whether he needs that chance. Obviously, the best solution would be to play him and get a fully firing Garnacho.
"He has shown flashes of brilliance. That's the whole thing. He's frustrating. Emery is the master of this sort of thing, so I'll bow to him, and we'll see how it plays out."
Ex-Aston Villa scout 'worried' by Nicolas Jackson
Former Villa scout Bryan King told Football Insider earlier this week that he is "worried" about Villa's reliance on Nicolas Jackson as their main striker.
The ex-recruitment man pointed towards the lack of consistency that the Senegal international enjoyed at Chelsea as being a major concern.
Jackson has two goals in his opening six Premier League games this term, but drew a blank once again in the recent 1-0 win at Newcastle.
With Ollie Watkins no longer around at Villa, Emery needs a reliable finisher at the top of the pitch, and doubts remain as to whether Jackson can provide that.