Aston Villa are now becoming certainties for relegation after being cut adrift at the bottom of the table.

This is making life extremely difficult for Frenchman Remi Garde, who was appointed as the replacement for Tim Sherwood a few months ago.Garde has been looking to strengthen the team in the January transfer window, but Villa have been unable to make much inroads so far.Garde has opened up on the situation by claiming that several players have already turned down to the club since they are not confident about Villa retaining the league status.

Aston Villa are one of the top clubs to have avoided relegation, but they have been in a dogfight over the last couple of years. This finally appears to be the season where they go down into the Championship. The team have secured only eight points from the 20 league games so far. They already need to make up more than 10 points just to stay in touch with the likes of Newcastle United and Sunderland. Villa did make a lot of signings in the summer under Sherwood, but most of the names have failed to shine at Villa Park. The club’s recent disappointment came in the FA Cup when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Wycombe.

“Attracting players in the situation we are in is not an easy task because players are not only attracted by money, as many people think.They also care about the project that we present to them. I have to say that if we had been in a better position, I would probably already have signed at least two players. It is very frustrating but I came into a situation that I knew could be uncomfortable to me for signing players,” said Garde, who has been linked with Loic Remy and Mathieu Debuchy.