Bruce

Aston Villa’s first season in the Championship for 30 years did not go to plan for the Midlands outfit, finishing in the bottom half of the table. Under the ownership of Tony Xia, the Villans invested heavily in the transfer market, turning over the squad that was relegated from the Premier League with a pitiful haul of 17 points in the previous campaign.

Despite an outlay of over £80m, the club were unable to even threaten an immediate return to the top flight. Roberto Di Matteo lasted only two months as manager before he was replaced by former Birmingham boss Steve Bruce following their club’s dreadful start.

Steve Bruce has always been an admirer of Joe Ledley and the reports suggest that he is looking to bring him at Aston Villa.

Bruce had tried to buy Ledley in the past as well, but, unsuccessfully.

Ledley had attracted the interest of Bruce 8 years back when the former was a part of Cardiff City and the latter was in charge of Wigan Athletic.

Aston Villa fans have not had much to cheer about over the last 18 months, however, the appointment of Steve Bruce as manager of the club has already brought optimism around Villa Park. Bruce has been in charge of the club for three games so far and has been able to bring two wins and a draw from those three fixtures.

His first game in charge was a home derby against Wolves. Villa showed plenty of fight in that tie. They were outplayed by a very good Wolves team at times but Bruce’s men were able to stay in the game and showed the character needed to come away with a well-earned point.