"It's all pointing towards...": Preece drops teasing Villa claim that'll excite fans - opinion

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece has delivered an exciting teaser about Aston Villa’s plans for the summer transfer window.

Steven Gerrard’s side have just hit a bit of a roadblock in terms of their form in the Premier League, with the Midlands club currently in a run of just one win in their past seven top-flight games.

And now, in a Q&A for The Birmingham Mail, Preece revealed: “14 games remaining, everyone’s playing for their futures. It’ll be another big summer of change. Fascinated to know what NSWE are thinking right now.

“It’s all pointing towards ANOTHER big summer. All eyes on Johan Lange and his recruitment team now. I think we all need to shelve this European talk.”

While Villa of course lost Jack Grealish to Manchester City in a big-money move last summer, they did go out on a spending spree themselves, signing a number of high-profile players, not least the likes of Leon Bailey and Danny Ings.

It felt like the club had made the best out of a heartbreaking situation in seeing Grealish finally make his departure, and would no doubt have hoped their new signings could kick on and push the side to bigger and better things.

Sadly, that hasn’t turned out to be the case, and while Gerrard initially oversaw an impressive return to form in his first few weeks in charge, things haven’t been quite plain sailing recently.

After potentially thinking about a European challenge this season, NSWE will surely be looking over their shoulders and clubs like Newcastle who could pose a real threat to their ambitions of breaking the Premier League’s traditional big-six.

It’s exactly why a real big summer of investment is needed at Villa Park, and if the owners can dip into their pockets and splash the cash that Gerrard needs,