Steve Bruce issues hands-off statement on Aston Villa stars
Steve Bruce has issued a hands-off statement regarding Aston Villa's star players - following discussions with the club's new owners.
In what has been a turbulent summer at Villa Park, Bruce was previously accepting of the impending departure of some of his biggest assets.
Tottenham Hotspur have been heavily linked with a move for Jack Grealish since Villa's failure to secure promotion to the Premier League, while James Chester has also been the subject of bids from Stoke City.
The future of a number of other players, including Jonathan Kodjia and Albert Adomah were also up for debate.
However, following the fresh investment from Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, the club's stance has taken a dramatic u-turn, with Bruce now confirming that keeping those players is now his number one priority.
"The one thing that the pair of them have said it that nobody is for sale. That’s music to my ears." Bruce said, following Aston Villa's 2-1 win over Dynamo Dresden this weekend.
“We don’t want to lose our best players. We all know in football that unfortunately these things happen."
“But we will now be doing our utmost to make sure these things do not happen and not let them go anywhere."
“The new owners coming in has helped.
“I appreciate what Dr Tony did, too. He had a tough time but there’s no doubting his commitment to the club.
“Let’s just hope the new owners can help get Villa back to where they should be.
“It’s going to take time but hopefully we can now look forward.”
The news comes as a big boost for fans, but the boss has also confirmed that injury has taken its toll on Villa's strike force this summer, with Kodjia, Scott Hogan, Keinan Davis and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy all struggling.
"Scott Hogan has got a bad groin - he hasn’t joined in pre-season at all." Bruce said.
“Keinan Davis has got an awful groin injury that has haunted him for a few months now."
“The other one is Jonathan Kodjia. He’s sore. He took a whack. It’s more precaution. I expect him to be okay for the first game of the season.
“Rushian Hepburn-Murphy went over his ankle in training three weeks ago."
Villa take on Hull in their season opener, kicking off at 7.45pm on Monday August 6, a game broadcast on Sky.
They completed their pre-season preparations with the win over Dynamo Dresden, in which Andre Green's quickfire double cancelled out Moussa Kone's opener for the German side.
