Sylla first in the queue for Villa exodus?

Just over a week after Paul Faulkner called for unity and subsequently two of Paul Lambert's long term lieutenants were suspended by the club, more evidence of a  lack of unity in the club has emerged as Yacouba Sylla is quoted in the press as wanting to get a loan deal and move away from Aston Villa.

The quotes reveal the Mali midfielder's frustration at his lack of game time this season, having been a key player in the Villa revival that secured our Premier League status at the end of last term's campaign.

With Charles N'Zogbia using social media to suggest that he is being forced to train with the kids in recent weeks, Sylla's outburst is evidence that all is still not harmonious at Bodymoor Heath as Villa head into four difficult games, three of them away from home with only the tricky fixture against Hull City at Villa Park with our Premier League status still not mathematically assured.

“There are a lot of teams I could contribute to. I think I will leave on loan at the end of the season. I could already have done so in December but the gaffer told me that he was counting on me.

“What I want, is to come back to France, on loan for one year to a good club, a team with a good project.

“My agent Moussa Sissoko is working for that and there are interested clubs.

“Again, the most important thing for me is to play. I am no longer the same man, not the same player. I cannot wait to change all that again.

“I am always on the bench and never on the pitch.

“Even if I do get to visit some wonderful stadiums and that life here is different than in France, I am not happy because I am not playing.

“My situation is not as dramatic as I have just made it sound but for somebody who loves football and does not get to play, I cannot be happy because I am not expressing myself on the pitch every weekend.

“It encourages me to keep hope. I am working hard in training. Last season, I contributed to keeping the club from relegation. This season it is more complicated.

“There have been decisions that I did not understand and I have not got the game time I had hoped for.”

Sylla isn't the only player to have received less game time than he might have expected. 

Matt Lowton has constantly been dropped then reselected despite playing all but one of Villa's games last season, while Bulgarian international Aleksander Tonev has never been given an extended run in the starting line-up. Antonio Luna has vanished from the matchday squad since Ryan Bertrand arrived on loan and Nicklas Helenius has become virtually invisible despite the fact the both Christian Beneteke and Libor Kozak have long term injuries.

Add to this bomb squad members like Darren Bent, Alan Hutton and Enda Stevens who'll be returning from loan deals in May, players like Albrighton approaching the end of their contracts and youth players who may not get professional deals and they'll be such  a queue of cars so anxious to drive out of Bodymoor Heath that we may even get a mention from Sally Traffic.

Whatever Lambert's fate or the outcome of any takeover, it's likely that will a significant turnover of playing staff in the summer.

@TheUltimateWard @villamadtweets Sylla & Tonev are no loss though. What is a loss is losing players when we have an infamously small squad.

— Sam (@BeardedMunners) April 23, 2014

@villamadtweets thankfully Sylla is awful

— BARRY ROBERTSON (@baz_robertson) April 23, 2014