Exclusive: Bristol City agree to sign Aston Villa ace Lansbury

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Published on:

29 Jan 2021, 5:14 am

Bristol City have reached an agreement to sign Aston Villa star Henri Lansbury on loan, Football Insider can reveal.

The attacking midfielder, 30, failed to make Villa's 25-man Premier League squad for this season and has been left kicking his heels.

A Villa source has told Football Insider that a deal has now been agreed for Lansbury to join City on loan for the rest of the season.

It will see the Arsenal academy product dropping down a division to the Championship, where he has spent most of his career.

The Midlands giants tried to get Lansbury off their wage bill in the last window but a transfer could not be agreed.

His only involvement for Dean Smith's high-flying side this season has come through three appearances in the EFL Cup.

One barrier to a move has been his salary of around £40,000-a-week, a deal that runs until next summer, and that had put off permanent buyers as well as clubs interested in potential loans.

Villa may well be subsidising some of Lansbury's wages to get him off the books.

He has been sidelined during Dean Smith's two-and-a-half years in charge and has started just two Premier League matches in the last 18 months.

He has not made a single matchday squad this season and was out of the reckoning even before the marquee loan signing of Ross Barkley pushed him totally out of the picture.

The January 2017 signing from Nottingham Forest did start all three of Villa's EFL Cup matches.

In other news, Football Insider can reveal that Barcelona are among three European giants racing to sign Aston Villa sensation by Monday.

Aston Villa