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Tony Coton - the head of domestic recruitment at Aston Villa - has left join Sunderland.

The talent-spotter is moving on as the club continues to deal with a worrying financial crisis.

Coton played a major role in the recent player signings but has decided to move on as Villa face up to a summer of struggle.

The former Birmingham City goalkeeping favourite previously worked as a coach at Manchester United before going into player recruitment.

He was convinced to join Villa by Tim Sherwood in 2015.

Coton revealed how he came to join Villa in his autobiography There To Be Shot At, which was published last year.

"Tim had kept Villa in the Premier League and taken the club to the FA Cup final in 2015, but unfortunately he was sacked in October of that same year with the club heading for the Championship.

"Frenchman Remi Garde could not halt the slide and Roberto Di Matteo lasted just four months before the club’s new owner Tony Xia felt that he needed to recruit a manager with a track record of getting teams promoted.

"Tim, as you would expect from the man who was key to my arrival back at Villa, kept me in the loop about the club’s recruitment business.

"Remi and Roberto, of course, had more pressing things to worry about than what was happening in the youth team, but both men were distant and suspicious of those members of staff they hadn’t brought with them.

"The lines of communication weren’t just down, they were cut completely – and that isn’t good for morale.

"It was a precarious time at Villa Park, but Mr Xia’s bold decision to appoint Steve Bruce was good for the club and for me personally."

Coton's exit comes as Xia, back in China, is still looking for outside investment to help finance the club in the times ahead.

He’s sourced a £6million loan which has helped pay off the outstanding tax bill, but Villa still have other huge running costs to contend with.

The owner has faced up to the possibility of losing star performer Jack Grealish with Tottenham leading the chase.

Aston Villa have made light of this week’s well documented struggles in an attempt to lift the gloom at Villa Park.

Responding to a tweet relating to ITV’s reality show Love Island, Villa’s official Twitter account made reference to this week, which has caused plenty of anxiety among the fanbase.

The claret and blues have faced the threat of a winding up order after missing a tax payment, while there has also been talk of administration on the back of the club’s failure to clinch promotion back to the Premier League.

It’s led to plentiful speculation that Villa will need to part with their best players to bridge the gap of debt the club have burdened because of Financial Fair Play restrictions.

On top of this, the club also announced that chief executive Keith Wyness had been suspended.

poll loading Should Bruce be given another season at Villa? 17000+ VOTES SO FAR Yes, he’s the man to get us up No, he hasn’t achieved what he was asked

It’s been a forgettable week, all told, but social media can at least offer a way of lightening the mood.

How did it go down? There was a mixed response to the originial tweet from the club’s verified account.

Chris N: Fans moaning about negativity at the club then moan about the club putting this out, can’t win

Jak Batty: Why are people moaning about this you moan when it’s all negative and the club are trying to be positive about things and yet your all negative, exactly what’s wrong with some of our fans

James : Poor banter lads, unless your announcing something in the next hour or so delete immediately

AVFClivelounge : Really pleased to see this news. Best way to help this mess as fans is get out and get those season tickets

Bookies' odds

Jack Grealish is expected to leave Aston Villa this summer as the club plan to cash in on their prized asset.

The claret and blues need to ease their cash-flow crisis by selling key players - and Grealish will fetch the biggest fee.

Leicester City are keen and in recent weeks Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Newcastle United and West Ham have all been strongly linked as interest continues to grow.

Tottenham are leading the race for Grealish and are considering making an official bid.

Punters are backing the move as well, with Spurs accounting for 44% of all bets on the 22-year-old’s next club in the last 48 hours.

BirminghamLive understands that SIX clubs are interested in Villa’s star performer who is expected to fetch between £25m-£30m.

Reports yesterday stated that Spurs are looking to get Grealish on the cheap and will test the water with a £15m approach.

Boss Mauricio Pochettino has a history of developing young talent and has been known to get the best out of players.

Grealish is also close with Dele Alli who will speak highly of the club he currently plays for.

He will be loathed to leave Villa Park, though, and is still struggling to come to terms with the failure to win promotion to the Premier League.

The boyhood Villa fan, who was a Witton Lane season ticket holder as a lad, was heartbroken after the play-off defeat at Wembley and is currently taking time out on holiday to assess the future.

Grealish was the star of last season and enjoyed a fine run of form in 2018.

Aston Villa European Cup winner Dennis Mortimer thinks his former club should sell Grealish - but not just because of their delicate financial situation.

Mortimer, who captained the claret and blues to their 1982 triumph over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, thinks Villa should allow Grealish to leave as they need to focus on discovering more creative talents going forward amid their financial uncertainty.

"If you think of it from the point of view of the money problem they've got, I don't see how they can (keep Grealish)," Mortimer said. "They're going to need to get rid.

"But the other thing is that I don't think they should keep Jack. I think they need to move him on because they need four or five creative players not just one.

"What they have got to be looking for now are players that if they lose one, they have still got three left. And if they lost two, they have still got two left."

Due to Grealish climbing through the ranks at Villa, any fee they receive for the 22-year-old will count entirely as profit in their bid to stay within the confines of FFP.

He scored three times and grabbed six assists after recovering from a freak kidney injury to spearhead Villa's promotion charge in the second half of the campaign.