Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has suggested on Twitter that the club will be telling unwanted players this week that they no longer have a future at the club.
The writing was on the wall for much of last season when the West Midlands dropped into the Championship. The much-maligned Joleon Lescott, perhaps unadvisedly, called the official confirmation of their relegation a "weight off the players' shoulders."
The claret and blue faithful, who themselves reluctantly supported the players, pointed to a lack of passion and fight in the squad and Lescott's comments perhaps highlighted that.
But in the wake of a new era for the club, new billionaire owner Tony Xia has installed Roberto Di Matteo as the man trusted to return the club to the Premier League. The former Chelsea boss has made it clear that the squad must be cut down ahead of the Championship season.
Trimming is needed &then will be new signings till window closes.3-4 be informed next week to farewell the old days pic.twitter.com/wvdXMTGauS
Xia has echoed those sentiments in a tweet hinting three or four players will be saying their goodbyes this week.
Reports suggest Scott Sinclair is being targeted by Celtic, while Gabby Agbonlahor and Lescott were both missing from the friendly win over Nantes with neither said to be carrying injuries.
Di Matteo has been implementing his vision with the players he does see a future with and has revealed he wants his side to retain possession but be flexible against what dangers opposing teams pose.
He said last week in the Birmingham Mail:We're working on some principles of play that we would like to have as a team.
Certainly, we're going to try and play with the ball on the ground as much as we can and pass the ball.
I know that in the Championship we will need to mix it a little bit as well depending on the opposition.
We will find a solution and a formula that suits us and is one that will bring us the most success.�