Reports | Steven Gerrard set to be appointed as next Aston Villa manager

Aston Villa sacked long-term manager Dean Smith after five successive defeats in the Premier League. Smith was primarily responsible for returning Villa to the top flight of English football in 2019 and steered them to an 11th placed finish last season. However, over the summer the Lions spent almost £90 million in new signings after they sold star player Jack Grealish to Manchester City for a record £100 million fee.

Things haven't gone according to plan after a fruitful summer for the English club as they lie in 16th place and are just two points outside the Premier League's bottom three spots following their 1-0 defeat to Southampton on Friday. Having sacked Dean Smith though, Aston Villa now want to make the right choice to succeed Dean Smith over the international break and according to Goal, Steven Gerrard is understood to be Villa's first choice to take over the club.

The former Liverpool player is under contract at Rangers until 2024 and is understood to be open to a move back to England. Rangers are hesitant on allowing him to leave in the middle of the season although they would be unable to stop him if Villa decides to pay a compensation fee of £2.5m.  Gerrard has had a successful stint with the Scottish giants as he guided the Gers to a league title last season and prevented arch-rivals Celtic from winning their 10th successive triumph in the Scottish league.