Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow is spearheading a permanent move for on-loan midfielder Ross Barkley, despite Dean Smith not being keen on a deal.

That’s according to an exclusive report from Football Insider, who claim that Purslow “likes the profile” of the Chelsea man, with Villa forking out £11m to bring the 27-year-old to the Midlands for the 2020/21 campaign.

Smith not so sure on Barkley?

Barkley has fallen out of favour under manager Smith in recent weeks, despite the absence of star man Jack Grealish.

He hasn’t started any of Villa’s last four Premier League games, with Football Insider claiming Smith is yet to be convinced that Barkley is worth the £35m fee that will be required to land him permanently this summer.

Bizarre

This seems rather bizarre - with Smith seemingly not so keen on keeping hold of Barkley at this moment in time, we feel that Purslow should be holding off for now regarding a possible club-record deal.

Purslow feels it would send out a big message to the English game if Villa were to sign Barkley permanently at the end of the season.

However, with Smith not even playing Barkley, especially with his star creative outlet injured, surely a whopping £35m deal doesn’t make sense.

In other news: Several Villa supporters have been reacting to target's boyhood Villa fan comments, find out more here.