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Paul Lambert’s summer rebuild has been largely impressive.

The Aston Villa boss has found a way to remove the dead wood from his squad and has replaced those departing with proven performers.

Not wanting to leave himself short on numbers, Lambert has recruited heavily to ensure there is competition for places all over the field.

Four of the six summer signings have played a part in Villa’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

Joe Cole is still not quite up to speed but there will be more from him in the future, as, too, with latest arrival Tom Cleverley.

The return of the ‘Bomb Squad’ has also made for a much tougher fight for places.

With a large squad at Lambert’s disposal, there is likely to be more temporary exits when the loan window opens on Tuesday.

Clubs in England outside the Premier League can take advantage of this system.

Loan deals between 28 days and 93 days can be arranged up until the window shuts on November 27 and Villa may allow some of their fringe players to leave.

A number of Championship clubs are interested in taking out-of-favour Matt Lowton on loan. The right-back hasn’t made it into a single match-day squad this season, partly due to the re-introduction of Alan Hutton.

Despite making 60 top-flight appearances, he lost his place at the start of this year and has so far failed to win it back.

With Leandro Bacuna the most likely option to fill in for Hutton should he pick up an injury or suspension, Lowton may be allowed to leave.

The same may apply to Chris Herd, who has less than a year remaining on his deal.

He made his Australia debut last Thursday at right-back but injured his knee just before half-time.

Ciaran Clark has also dropped way down the pecking order this term and moving out on loan for the first time in his career might help him in the long term.

I make him Villa’s fifth-choice centre-half behind Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos, Nathan Baker and Jores Okore, who played for Denmark at the weekend.

In times of need the soon-to-be 25-year-old has filled in efficiently for Villa at both centre-half and left-back but his progress has stalled and that’s affecting his Republic Of Ireland career, too. Despite making the latest Ireland squad, he wasn’t named as one of the 12 substitutes in either of their two recent games.

Enda Stevens and youngster Callum Robinson may move, too.