NWSE appears to be heading for a big Aston Villa disaster that surely won't please manager Steven Gerrard.
What’s the word?
According to the Daily Mail, Aston Villa defender Kortney Hause wants to leave the club in the summer transfer window.
Hause saw a move to Watford fall through in January and appears to be set on a fresh start away from Villa Park.
Steven Gerrard set for defensive crisis
Gerrard has had a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde spell at Villa so far since he arrived at the club in mid-November from Rangers.
He appeared to ignite the spark back into the side following two consecutive wins, however, a bad spell over Christmas and New Year soon brought the team back down and they have faced a fight to sneak into the top half of the table ever since.
With Gerrard's defence being one of concern, with Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings not exactly setting the world on fire, and the news that Hause wants to leave, the manager faces a semi-crisis.
Mings has averaged a fairly respectable 6.91 SofaScore rating but his performances have seriously dwindled since he began the European Championships last summer in England's starting XI.
Konsa, meanwhile, has impressed at times but his overall metrics are incredibly disappointing, averaging a rating of 6.74, worse than both Mings and Hause.
The latter, who earns £25k-per-week, has only featured three times under the Englishman and hasn’t even been in the matchday squad for the previous eight games.
His performances earlier in the season led to some praise, however, suggesting he should be part of Gerrard's plans going forward.
Hause was dubbed “assured” following an excellent performance against Manchester United at the start of the campaign, in which he scored the only goal and it’s a pity he hasn’t been able to convince Gerrard of his merits thus far.
Hopefully, a solid pre-season can do the player wonders and the manager will give him more opportunities.
After all, with Konsa and Mings both linked with moves away too, it would surely be nothing short of a disaster if all three players departed.