Roberto Di Matteo to axe Aston Villa deadwood as he looks to trim 30-man squad down to size
New signings Gianluigi Gollini, Tommy Ephick and Aaron Tshibola have taken the Claret and Blues squad beyond a number their Italian boss wants to work with next season
ROBERTO DI MATTEO is ready to axe the deadwood from his bloated Aston Villa squad.
New signings Gianluigi Gollini, Tommy Ephick and Aaron Tshibola pushed the Italian’s numbers beyond 30 and says that’s way too many.
The Italian is preparing for some heavy pruning over the next fortnight.
Brad Guzan, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Leo Bacuna and Gabby Agbonlahor all face uncertain futures after fans turned on them last season.
Di Matteo said: “I want to trim the squad and over the next two or three weeks we need to get some players out.
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“We’ve only had one friendly so I’d like a bit more time to make final decisions on who I want to keep. There is a lot of work to do but I am going to make changes.”
After signing a goalkeeper, centre-half and central midfielder Di Matteo is seeking a game-changing striker to complete a new-look spine, with Bristol City’s £5million rated hitman Jonathan Kodjia the latest player on his radar.
He said: “We’ve got some strikers with certain attributes but we’ll have many different opponents throughout the season and I need someone who can help us change games.
“A new, fresh face with different qualities will give us a big help. But I’ll take my time, I’m not in a rush.”