"?According to the "?Sun, Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce wants to sell misfiring pair Ross McCormack and Jordan Ayew in order to bring in fresh talent.
The report claims that Bruce wants to offload the aforementioned players to fund moves for Burnley defender James Bree and Middlesbrough striker Jordan Rhodes. Villa believe that £16m will be able to land them their targets, with Rhodes being valued at £12m while Bree should be available for £4m.
Ayew is away with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations. He is now considered not good enough for Steve Bruce's squad, and the manager will try his best to secure a transfer away for the 25-year-old.
The forward has scored just three goals from 22 appearances this season, leaving the Villans languishing in 13th place on the Championship table. They are facing quite the struggle to regain Premier League status, and are now 20 points adrift of first-placed Newcastle.
McCormack, meanwhile, has been just as bad, scoring the same amount from one less appearance.
Bruce has lamented the absence of main striker Jonathan Kodjia, who is also on AFCON duty, also hinting at possible recruitment this month.
"We're missing our main striker which isn't easy. If that's as good as we can muster, it's going to be a long old slog," he said to the "?Birmingham Mail following Villa's 1-0 loss to Wolves on Saturday.
"He is coming back but we don't want to put all our eggs into him. If there's people that can help us then of course it's my job to make sure we get better."