Gerrard purging Africans at Aston Villa

Aston Villa coach Steven Gerrard looks set to purger all Africans remaining in at the EPL club.

Zimbabwean holding midfielder Marvellous Nakamba and Burkina Faso forward Betrand Traore have been transfer listed. Dutchman Anwar El Ghazi who is of Egyptian descent is also part of the list.

Traore has since be relegated to train with Villa’s under-21s after being told he was no longer in the coach’s plan.

The club told El Ghazi to find a new club, while it’s understood that they are ready to take offers for Marvelous Nakamba who has surprisingly been failing to make Gerrard’s matchday squads.

In revealing plans to part ways with the African Stars Gerrard said they deserve new challenges away from the Birmingham based side.

“There are players around the squad that need to go out for different challenges and need to go and play football. We’ve been more than honest and more than respectful, face to face with those players so they all know where they stand.

“That’s the large part of our focus (shipping players out) because we want people to play football. We want them to go and look for football elsewhere because we want them to have a better chance of playing and have better football happiness.

“There’s still a couple of weeks left and we’ll continue to have an eye on the market and we’ll see what comes up,” the former Liverpool skipper is quoted by the Birmingham Mail.

The trio were were the only Africans remaining in the team after Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan popularly know as Trézéguet left in July.

The midfielder has since joined Turkish Super Lig club Trabzonspor following a loan move to İstanbul Başakşehir.

Trézéguet spend three years in Aston Villa’s ranks.

According to the Birmingham Mail, his African compatriots Nakamba, Traore and El Ghazi are in line to be sold as the Claret and Blue aim to invade the transfer market for centre-back, a replacement for the injured Diego Carlos.

Nakamba, however, was a vital cog in Gerrard’s team following his appointment last November before he was suffered a knee injury that sidelined him.

The arrival of Frenchman Boubacar Kamara at Villa Park has seen the 28-year-old falling down the perking order.