Exclusive: Alan Hutton reveals real reason Yannick Bolasie flopped at Aston Villa

Alan Hutton has revealed Yannick Bolasie flopped at Aston Villa because he still hadn't properly got over his knee problems.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Villa full-back and teammate of Bolasie claimed the winger "showed flashes of brilliance" during his loan last season.

But the deal did not work out and Bolasie exercised his option to terminate the season-long agreement midway through the campaign.

Villa had high hopes for the mercurial winger after ex-manager Steve Bruce recruited him in August of last year.

This was nine months after he had returned from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament that had sidelined him for 12 months and required two operations to fix.

"He turned up off the back of a serious injury and we always knew it was going to take him time, so he did, he tried to take his time with it but you're not going to be right for a season off those sort of injuries," Hutton told Football Insider.

"I think everybody just thought he was going to turn up and just, 'bang', be the guy he used to be and it's difficult. It was hard for him.

"I mean he showed flashes, he definitely did, he showed flashes of brilliance but it didn't quite work out how we wanted."

Bolasie made 21 appearances, scoring two goals and supplying five assists, for Villa with the majority of those games coming as a substitute.

He is currently on loan at Sporting Lisbon after spending the second half of the last campaign out at Anderlecht.

In other Aston Villa news, it can be REVEALED that the club have set their sights on a £20million-plus January signing.