Villa ready to axe five first-team players

According to the Mirror, Aston Villa are ready to axe five first-team players this summer in their squad revamp.

The report claims that Tommy Elphick, Aly Cissoko, Aaron Tshibola, Micah Richards and Pierluigi Gollini are all up for sale.

Villa are looking to offload each of them to raise funds for new additions to the squad so that they can compete for promotion next season.

Tony Xia has already funded one big name signing this summer with the arrival of Chelsea legend John Terry on a free transfer.

However, Villa still have a host of players who have uncertain futures at the club and are clogging up the spiralling wage bill at Villa Park.

Elphick, Gollini and Tshibola only signed for the club last summer but look set to leave after just one season.

Richards and Cissoko are also on their way out of the door, having both been touted with exits in the past.