Gerrard tells Nakamba to fight for a place in his Aston Villa squad

Aston Villa’s manager Steven Gerrard has challenged Warriors midfielder Marvelous Nakamba to put up a good fight to ensure he forces his way back into his squad.

His sentiments comes after Nakamba has drastically fallen out of favour at the club this season despite being a key player in the gaffer’s team in the previous campaign.

The Zimbabwean international is struggling to make a cut into the match day squads though he has been involved two times.

He hasn’t featured in any of Villa’s games across all competitions this season.

As a result, the Hwange born player was transfer listed by the club in the summer transfer window which ended a fortnight ago.

However, a loan deal or a permanent move away from the club failed to materialise in the transfer period until the deadline day.

According to an article ran by Birmingham Mail early this week, Gerrard advised Nakamba and other fringe players including Morgan Sanson to pull up their socks to remain in the team as well as regain his trust.

“The latest round of training photos have dropped, though, with two players who’ve yet to feature this season involved once again,” wrote Birmingham Mail.

“Morgan Sanson and Marvelous Nakamba are yet to make it onto the pitch so far with the two players failing to secure moves away on transfer deadline day a fortnight ago.

“Both Sanson and Nakamba have drastically fallen out of favour in B6, while Gerrard has challenged the pair to force their way back into his thinking with 12 games remaining before the January transfer window.”

Nakamba could be part of the squad that will face Southampton in a premier league fixture at the Villa Park on Friday.

This was revealed by Villa correspondent and journalist Ashley Preece’s predicted squad to face the visiting side.