With Aston Villa recently confirming that Steven Gerrard has been appointed as the new manager at Villa Park, speculation surrounding the 41-year-old's January transfer business has already begun.

Indeed, it has been suggested that the former Rangers boss could look to raid his old side for a number of their top talents in the winter market, with players such as Alfredo Morelos, Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent and James Tavernier having been touted as potential targets.

However, with Villa having already spent a rather substantial £89.84m in the summer transfer window, before Gerrard brings any fresh faces into Villa Park this January, the 41-year-old may well have to shift a couple of his current squad in order to raise funds.

If this does prove to be the case for the former Liverpool captain, then Anwar El Ghazi should undoubtedly be one of the players who Gerrard considers moving on, as the winger has proven this season that he is not of the standard required for Villa.

Indeed, over his six Premier League appearances this term, the £11.7m-rated man has scored just one goal and registered no assists, as well as hitting the target with a mere 0.3 shots and making 0.7 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the player who Alan Hutton claimed can be "unstoppable" earn an extremely disappointing average SofaScore match rating of just 6.50, ranking him as Villa's joint fifth-worst player in the league.

As a result of these poor performances, ex-Premier League goalkeeper Paddy Kenny recent stated his belief that Villa should look to move the 26-year-old in January, claiming: "He's not been in their plans for a while now, so I don't think [El Ghazi leaving] would be a bad move at all. If it frees money and wages up to maybe bring someone in January in, get it done."

Furthermore, in a recent poll ran on Football FanCast, an overwhelming majority of Villa fans voted in favour of their side moving the Netherlands international on this winter, proving that, should Gerrard indeed decide to part ways with the forward, it would be a popular decision amongst fans.

As such, considering his poor returns and lack of support within the Villa fanbase, the 41-year-old Villa boss simply must axe El Ghazi in January, as the money raised from his sale, in addition to freeing up his £38k-per-week wages, could be put to very good use by Gerrard.

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