Sherwood given deadline as Villa line up former Liverpool manager as potential

During his first full season in charge at Villa Sherwood has managed just four points from a possible 24 and the Midlands club have failed to win a game since the opening day of the season.

Chief executive Tom Fox is understood to be deeply concerned at Villa’s form but club sources suggest Sherwood will get at least a few more games to prove himself.

They sold key players in Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke over the summer, bringing in a raft of young European players as replacements.

On his last appearance for Ghana he fired in a stunning strike that had Villa fans licking their lips in anticipation at what could be expected from the big-money buy. As well as Rodgers, former Manchester United boss David Moyes has also been mooted as a possible successor to Sherwood if Villa decide to cut their losses and fire the former Tottenham Hotspur boss.

Villa’s upcoming fixtures against Chelsea and Swansea are must-win for Tim Sherwood if he is to keep his job at Villa Park.

Sherwood was reported on Saturday to be unhappy with the calibre of signings recruited for him by head of recruitment Paddy Reilly and sporting director Hendrik Almstadt. Rudy Gestede and Mark Bunn were Sherwood choices, but he missed out on other targets including Asmir Begovic, Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Joe Gomez, and Esteban Cambiasso.

The limp 1-0 home defeat to Stoke was met with boos and abuse from the stands.

“Their desire to do the best they can is there in abundance too – and we will soon start picking up”.

Unfortunately for Tim Sherwood and Aston Villa this has not been the case.

“I will use the global break to get my players fitter because they are not fit enough yet to play the way I want them to play”.

“The games are ticking off and we need to start winning”.

Costa was captured meeting, taking photos with and signing autographs for Blues supporters at the club’s megastore at Stamford Bridge on Monday afternoon after having been missing from action for Chelsea’s last three games through suspension.