Bannan linked with Villa return

New Aston Villa manager Dean Smith is keen to bring Barry Bannan back to the club, according to the Mirror.

The Scotland international left Villa Park for Crystal Palace in 2013, before signing for Sheffield Wednesday two years later.

Since arriving at Hillsborough, he has racked up one hundred and twenty-nine appearances in all competitions, scoring seven goals and was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Season in 2016.

Internationally, he has racked up twenty-seven senior appearances for Scotland but hasn’t featured for them in just over a year.

The twenty-eight-year old played eighty-three times for Villa, scoring two goals though he did spend much of that period out on loan across spells with Derby County, Blackpool and Leeds United.

Villa have lost three of their past four league games, form which sees them sitting in eighteenth place in the Championship table, seven points off the top six.