New keeper please, Dean – and just get rid of Ross!
cope with missing out on promotion if the goalkeeping situation were to cost Villa.
The Burnley stopper would represent a steady, experienced upgrade on Nyland and should be available after falling down the pecking order at Turf Moor.
BD: I don’t think Leeds’ Barry Douglas would be realistic but I think he’d flourish at Villa. Until a couple of weeks ago I’d have said Matt Targett but he’s started playing for Southampton again. Could they work a bit of magic and get Alberto Moreno on loan? Christian Fuchs perhaps?
SW: I think Smith should make a play for Brentford’s Chris Mepham, he’s the kind of player that Villa need and he is of course very well known to his manager.
Much depends on Villa’s transfer stance in January, if they want to splash out on a good current performer and one with plenty of years service ahead, this would be a great shout.
KD: It seems Smith has already highlighted the goalkeeping department as his main concern ahead of the January transfer window, with Villa among a number of club’s linked with Heaton.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche will reportedly grant him a temporary stint away and if Villa are to return to the Premier League, they will need to shore up at the back.
JC: Everton prodigy Mason Holgate has recently been made available for a loan move. He has experience of playing in the Premier League and can play at right-back, too. He’d be an choice, off the top of my head. ideal
MK: Henri Lansbury. Of course, there’s a collection of kids who would benefit from playing for a cause in the lower leagues, but Lansbury desperately needs a fresh challenge to kickstart his career.
With injuries, inconsistency and a queue of midfielders ahead of him at Villa, he really needs a temporary stint elsewhere to remind us that there’s still a very decent player in there somewhere.
BD: One of the kids because experience is vital and that’s the best way of getting experience.
I’m not convinced Callum O’Hare will get that many chances at the business end of the season – but I could see him doing the business for someone else in the Championship or top end League One.
SW: I think it’s time to get Rushian Hepburn-Murphy back out there at the highest level club possible and see if this kid really has what it takes to have an Aston Villa future.
Stick him at Walsall for six months and see if he can smash the goals in. He needs some senior football and for me he sits at a crossroads in his career.
KD: Keinan Davis showed glimpses of real potential when sporadically given opportunities under Steve Bruce.
Smith has opted for one striker to allow for Bolasie and El Ghazi since taking the reigns at Villa and with Tammy Abraham, Jonathan Kodjia and Scott Hogan ahead of him, Davies will struggle for chances this season.
JC: James Bree needs a chance to spread his wings. His time at Villa hasn’t taken off, and he is in desperate requirement of regular game time. League One football at this stage wouldn’t be a bad idea.
MK: The usual suspects of Micah Richards and Ross McCormack, obviously, while there seems to be little sense in Andre Moreira prolonging his stay.
BD: I think a fresh start for Scott Hogan would probably benefit both parties. He’s still a very good player but I’m not sure that even Dean Smith’s Villa will be built round his strengths. Villa could recoup a few million too.
SW: There is no doubt that they would like to see McCormack pack his bags for the last time, but that seems unlikely. It seems he will play out his career on loan and see his contract run down.
KD: I think every Villa fan will agree that the sooner the club can get McCormack and Richards off the books the better!
JC: Ideally, McCormack. That will be tricky, of course, because of the wage he is paid at Villa. They need to trim the fringes of the squad that have no future under Smith.
Other than McCormack, Tshibola may struggle to reignite his Villa career and seems to be enjoying himself with over-achieving Kilmarnock.