It took Gerrard three years to turn Rangers into Scottish champions, but on the back of four wins in his first six games – the other two being tight defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool – fans of Villa were expecting their transformation to be much quicker.
Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho was signed on loan alongside the permanent deal of highly-rated full back Lucas Digne. The Gerrard influence was already clear to see.
However, despite initial brilliance from Coutinho, Villa have slumped to four successive Premier League defeats, including a recent 4-0 thumping at the hands of Tottenham and sit 12th.
While a top-ten finish is still a possibility, one thing that is for certain is that Gerrard will be making a number of changes in the summer.
Planet Sport indentifies the players he needs to jettison to turn Villa into European candidates.
Ashley Young
Young has made 22 appearances after being signed on a free in the summer and will more than likely start the final seven games at left-back with Digne ruled out for the rest of the season through injury.
Young is a free agent in the summer but is open to staying for another season.
Villa are interested in bringing in teenager Aaron Hickey from Bologna and although Matt Targett is set to move on in the summer, paying…