Steven Gerrard makes Yves Bissouma point and drops exciting Aston Villa transfer hint

Steven Gerrard has confirmed that Aston Villa had a bid turned down for Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma in the January transfer window - and he will assess the defensive midfield situation again ahead of the summer.

Villa lost holding midfielder Marvelous Nakamba to injury at the back end of last year having begun brightly under Gerrard, and it so it was an area of the field that he was keen to address in the winter window.

Villa were able to complete deals for Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne, Robin Olsen and Calum Chambers, but the midfield spot in front of the defence remained unfilled.

That wasn’t through a want of trying; Villa did approach Brighton for Malian Bissouma, with a bid reported to be worth £25m tabled, but the Seagulls didn’t entertain the notion of parting with one of the key members of their squad.

“Incomings, the window was extremely strong. There were areas that we needed to find solutions for us to be stronger and better. We got 90/95% of business done that we wanted to get done in the window.

“I’m delighted with the support from the board. It was well documented that we put in a bid for Bissouma at Brighton which was turned away, and we respected and appreciated. If a move is not right then we will not become desperate and make a decisions that we do not think is right. If it’s not right at the time we might have to be patient in a few situations.”

Villa await the return of Nakamba, who ought to be back in the coming weeks, but speculation mounted in January as to who Villa and Gerrard might turn to in his absence.

You can expect it to be a department of the squad which is revisited again once the curtain falls on this season, but Gerrard won’t accept anything less than his first choice