Aston Villa have been pretty busy during the two previous transfer windows in terms of bringing new players in and moving some of their current ones out in the other direction.

With the next summer transfer window on the horizon and set to open for business at the end of the season, it seems as though the Midlands club could be heading towards a potential howler concerning one of their more recent recruits.

A recent report from Football Insider has claimed that fellow Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion have identified Villa striker Danny Ings as a potential summer transfer target.

The Villa Park outfit signed the striker from Southampton back in the previous summer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £25m.

Since then, the Englishman has gone on to score five goals and provide five assists in 23 Premier League appearances, showing that he can be a useful attacking option for Steven Gerrard's side despite not being consistent in terms of his goals.

Labelled as a "first-class" player regarding his movement on the pitch by Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison, Ings still has time in his debut season at Villa Park to add some more goals and assists to his tally to help the club end the campaign as strongly as possible.

Despite not being particularly consistent when it comes to finding the back of the net in a Villa shirt, if the club were to sell the striker to Brighton, a team that are currently only three points behind Gerrard's side in the league table, and he then managed to become a regular goalscorer with the Seagulls, this would be a major howler for the club and Johan Lange given the hefty fee they shelled out for him.

It's also safe to say that the 41-year-old Villa manager wouldn't be too happy to see one of his attacking players, that is more established in the Premier League than others, join another top-flight club just a year into his current deal at Villa Park.

Moving forward, if the former Saints star can get a good run of form under his belt between now and the end of the campaign with some more goals to his name, this could put to bed any rumours of a potential summer exit from the Midlands club and hope that he can have a more fruitful season in front of goal next time around.

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