Three Aston Villa fringe players who called be recalled to the first-team in 2018/19

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Aston Villa narrowly failed to reach the Premier League last season, with the Villans losing out to Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off final at the end of the campaign.

Financial uncertainty has hung over the club during the close season, but with new owners now at the helm, there is a sense that boss Steve Bruce can add a few new players to his squad before the season starts and challenge once again.

The Championship is a somewhat unforgiving league and Bruce knows that he must get his charges ready for the big kick-off, which is now just eight days away, whilst he also knows that there won’t be the bounty of cash that he had to spend last season at his disposal this time around.

With that in mind, Bruce might need to call upon some of the players who he deemed as fringe players last term and here we look at three players who the Villa boss should hand revivals to…

Henri Lansbury

When Villa signed the central midfielder from Nottingham Forest back in 2017 he was handed a rather hefty contract and that in itself will make it extremely difficult to try and offload him any time soon.

If the 27-year-old is given a regular run in the Villa side then there is every possibility that he can get back to the form that he was showing towards the end of his time at the City Ground, when Bruce saw enough to pay a fee in excess of £2.75 million to secure his services.

Villa boast a solid Championship performer in Lansbury and 2018/19 could be a big season for the former Arsenal trainee.

Andre Green

The 20-year-old academy graduate only featured for Bruce five times last season but the fact he has taken part in a lot of pre-season this term suggests that he could have a part to play during 2018/19.

The winger boasts raw pace and an eye for goal, indeed, if he can get into Bruce’s reckoning for the new campaign he could be a really good player for Villa as they look to challenge in the higher echelons of the division once again.

Green will need to work hard to get into the side, but with Robert Snodgrass unlikely to return to Villa Park this summer, Bruce will certainly have to rely on youth a little bit more.

Tommy Elphick

One of Aston Villa’s best players in their run to the play-off final last term was central defender John Terry, but with the ex-Chelsea man now departed there will be a void that needs filling at the heart of the back four.

The 30-year-old was farmed out on loan to Reading for the second half of the 2017/18 campaign but he will naturally return to Villa Park looking to reignite his career with the club he first joined in 2016.

Elphick is a really solid performer on his day and a resurgence from the defender could save Bruce from having to scour the transfer market for an alternative.