Aston Villa ace Lansbury may have played last game for club

Aston Villa midfielder Henri Lansbury is unlikely to play for the club again after being axed from their Premier League squad, Football Insider understands.

The Midlands giants tried to get the attacking midfielder, 29, off their wage bill before the domestic transfer window shut last week.

But a transfer could not be agreed and Lansbury has now been left kicking his heels following his omission from the 25-man Premier League squad announced yesterday.

A Villa source has told Football Insider that the club believe it would take an unexpected series of events to bring Lansbury back into the first-team fold.

He had been told to find a new club before the window shut after another major summer recruitment drive had left him surplus to requirements.

He is on around £40,000-a-week, a deal that runs until next summer, and that put off permanent buyers as well as clubs interested in potential loans.

Lansbury has been sidelined during Dean Smith’s two years in charge and has started just two Premier League matches in the last 14 months.

He has not made a single matchday squad this season and was out of the reckoning even before the marquee loan signing of Ross Barkley pushed him totally out of the picture.

The January 2017 signing from Nottingham Forest did start all three of Villa’s EFL Cup matches but the 1-0 defeat to Stoke City in the fourth round earlier this month means the club will only have Premier League football between now and January.

Smith has completely overhauled the Villa squad for a second consecutive summer and that has ended Lansbury’s hopes of league action.

Tellingly, Villa have included four goalkeepers in their 25-man squad as well as Frederic Guilbert and Anwar El Ghazi, who also came close to leaving last week.

In other news, Aston Villa youngster is set for first-team promotion after Smith makes up his mind.