Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has suffered a major blow after John Terry's departure from the club was confirmed.

What's the story?

The former Chelsea centre-back joined Villa as Smith's right-hand man back in October 2018 and has helped the club get promoted to the Premier League and achieve a solid campaign last season.

However, he has confirmed that he will be leaving with immediate effect as he looks to begin his own managerial career.

He said: "It has been a tremendous honour and privilege to have spent these last three years at Aston Villa, but I feel now is the right time to make the extremely difficult decision to move on.

"I want to be as respectful to the manager and everyone at Aston Villa as I can and, having given my future serious consideration over the summer, I genuinely don’t feel it is fair to move into a new season without being certain of seeing that through."

Dean Smith will be devastated

Make no mistake about it, while Terry may have announced his departure before the start of the new season, it doesn't take away from this being a major setback for Smith.

The Birmingham Mail's Ashley Preece responded to the news on Twitter by saying: "A big blow losing JT, a man who's been a huge & vital part of Villa's rise. He's left his mark at #avfc with Konsa and Mings the big beneficiaries. A dignified way of leaving knowing he didn't want to disrupt Villa's campaign. A great servant."

As Preece says, Terry's influence extends beyond just being an assistant to Smith, but also a valuable coach - especially in defence - to the likes of Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings, with the latter now an established England international who went to Euro 2020 this summer.

Terry has been at the club for a good number of years and has been a key part of their rise back to the top flight, so losing him will leave Smith devastated.

Not only will the Villa manager miss out on Terry himself, but he will also have to now find a replacement for him with just a couple of weeks left before the new Premier League season.

Meanwhile, Ashley Preece has dropped a major update on the future of this Villa man...it's not Grealish