'Outstanding' Villa talent who started 31 PL games may now fall victim to Gerrard clearout

Bertrand Traore, Douglas Luiz and Morgan Sanson could all leave Aston Villa this summer. 

That’s according to transfer insider Dean Jones, who was writing for GiveMeSport.

Villa paid £17m to sign Traore from Lyon in September 2020 but his future is already in doubt after he made just one start (and eight substitute appearances) in the most recent Premier League campaign.

Sanson is an even more recent acquisition, having joined from Marseille in a £14m deal in January 2021. He also found opportunities hard to come by in 2021/22, with just three starts and seven run-outs from the bench.

Luiz was in the same price bracket – a £15m addition from Manchester City in 2019 – but has played far more often. The Brazilian started 31 of Villa’s 38 top-flight matches, seemingly regarded as a key player by both Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard.

Jones addressed Villa’s prospective summer transfer business in a Q&A with GiveMeSport.

He claimed that ‘there has to be doubt’ over whether Traore will be a Villa player next season, adding that Sanson ‘looks sure’ to leave the Midlands outfit just 18 months on from his arrival.

However, perhaps the real surprise for Villa supporters would be the potential exit of Luiz, ‘who seems to be one they could move on’, according to the transfer insider.

On the one hand, Villa could make healthy money from offloading these players. Transfermarkt value them at a combined £62.1m, and that could give Gerrard considerably more spending power as he targets a further three singings.

Still, some Villa fans may be sad to see Luiz go. After all, this is a player that Pep Guardiola, the manager of reigning league champions Manchester City, called ‘important’, ‘clever with the ball’ and ‘physically strong’.

Meanwhil