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Why the time is up for this senior Aston Villa star if playmaker duo are signed
COMMENT by Amir Mir
Ashley Westwood’s time will be up at Aston Villa if the playmaker duo of Henri Lansbury and Conor Hourihane are signed.
Steve Bruce confirmed in his press conference on Friday morning that the deal for Forest captain Lansbury is “done”, while he is waiting on news from Barnsley in regards to Hourihane.
Midfielder Westwood is one of the senior players in the dressing room having played for the club on 161 occasions since signing from Crewe in 2012.
During that time, he has only provided 13 assists, scoring five goals, with the majority of those games played in the Premier League.
Soon to be new signings, Lansbury has scored six goals in the Championship alone this season for a struggling Forest team, while Hourahine has provided 12 assists for the newly-promoted Tykes.
Compare that to Westwood this season, who has failed to score a single goal or provide an assist in 22 league games.
Over the past six years, the Villa midfield has been a very problematic area and Westwood has been a part of that for a long time.
As soon as the duo are signed, Bruce must get rid of Westwood and wave goodbye to the consistent midfield issues that have affected Villa in both attack and defence in recent seasons.
Villa have a defensive wall in Australia captain Mile Jedinak who will now complement well with the creativity and driving force of Hourahine and Lansbury.
This will enable the club to push forward and start closing the ten point gap on the top six in the Championship.
In other Aston Villa transfer news, this is the deadline the club have to meet in order to play Henri Lansbury and Conor Hourahine against Preston.
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