Why Aston Villa are considering axing Danny Ings

Danny Ings scored seven goals with six assists in 30 Premier League games for Aston Villa last season. The 29-year-old had a hand in one goal every 2.3 league outings on average which sounds like a good return, but the £26.5m signing endured droughts in his debut campaign that raise uncertainty over his future at Villa Park.

Ings started only 58% of Villa’s league games and was substituted on or substituted off 23 times from his 30 appearances (76%). The England international amassed 1905 minutes from a possible 3420 (55.6%), so he missed a lot of the season. And with how ruthless Steven Gerrard was with Matt Targett, Ings isn’t guaranteed to stay this summer.

Football Insider believe Villa want to sign a prolific striker and could sell Ings to fund the move. It would be a big call axing a player just one year after he was signed, but Ings wasn’t a Gerrard signing and has really struggled for consistency. He scored just three goals in the last four months of the season (16 PL games) and managed only nine shots on target since early-January.

Ings started just four of Villa’s last 10 league games too, so it’s clear he doesn’t have his manager’s trust.

In other news, Aston Villa’s shift in transfer policy is short-termist