Steven Gerrard has been given the "green light" by the Aston Villa board to go and make his first foray into the transfer market, with Rangers star Joe Aribo believed to be a potential target.
The news will be welcomed by the former Rangers manager, who has just lost midfielder Marvelous Nakamba to a knee injury which is expected to keep him out of action for at least three months.
Defender Axel Tuanzebe played alongside regular pair John McGinn and Douglas Luiz in the Villa midfield in last week's 2-0 win over Norwich.
According to the Mirror, Gerrard is said to have asked the club's sporting director Johan Lange to draw up players who can fill the void left by Nakamba but stopped short on revealing any specific targets.
He said: "I don’t think I’ll be giving anything away in terms of potential targets or areas I want to improve in. I think you’ll have to just wait and see what we do.
"At the moment the transfer window is shut, so the focus is currently on what we have available as of now. We have players capable of playing in that six position. We’re not in an emergency situation."
