Henri Lansbury was once again an unused substitute in Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon, watching on as Conor Hourihane, Marvelous Nakamba, John McGinn and Douglas Luiz all got minutes ahead of him.
The 29-year-old has made just three appearances in all competitions this season, spending more time on the bench (five) than on the pitch. Lansbury has been at Villa for more than two-and-a-half years, but he’s racked up less minutes in 2017/18, 2018/19 & 2019/20 combined (992) than he did in his debut campaign (2016/17) – 1458.
Injuries have hampered Lansbury’s playing time and led to midfielders climbing ahead of him in the pecking order. Under Dean Smith (October 10, 2018 – present), the Englishman has only featured seven times and racked up 225 minutes of football. With the January transfer window approaching, Lansbury might have to consider a move to get first-team football.
It remains to be seen where the 29-year-old would go, but it seems clear he doesn’t have a future at Villa Park. Lansbury was handed five minutes of playing time in Villa’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace (August 31) and two minutes in their 3-2 defeat to Arsenal (September 22).
Smith said in March that Lansbury could be Grealish’s backup, but that hasn’t come close to ringing true and a departure looks on the cards as a result.
Stats from Transfermarkt.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
