Aston Villa

Steve Bruce hopeful of retaining best Aston Villa players following owner talks

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 28 July 2018

Bruce hopeful of retaining best Villa players

Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce is confident of holding on to his best players following talks with new club owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.

Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has claimed that he is confident of holding on to his best players following talks with the club's new owners.

The 57-year-old met majority shareholders Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens on Wednesday and received assurances over his future as first-team manager at Villa Park.

While Bruce is looking to bring players in, his priority remains holding on to Jack Grealish, James Chester and Jonathan Kodija as Villa seek to return to the Premier League.

"The one thing that the pair of them have said is that nobody is for sale," Bruce told the club's website. "That's music to my ears.

"We don't want to lose our best players. We all know in football that unfortunately these things happen But we will now be doing our utmost to make sure these things do not happen and not let them go anywhere.

"The new owners coming in has helped. I appreciate what Dr Tony [Xia] did, too. He had a tough time but there's no doubting his commitment to the club. Let's just hope the new owners can help get Villa back to where they should be. It's going to take time but hopefully we can now look forward."

Bruce has been in charge of Villa since 2016, winning 42 of his 89 matches at the helm.