DESPITE avoiding the drop by the skin of their teeth, last season wasn’t an entirely disastrous campaign as manager Tim Sherwood guided Aston Villa to the FA Cup final in which they were beaten 4-0 by a ruthless Gunners side.

Following the defeat, Sherwood was already looking to the future and claimed that a number of players had already been told they were surplus to requirements.

Antonio Luna, Darren Bent, Andreas Weimann, Matthew Lowton, Yacouba Sylla and Shay Given have all moved on to pastures new.

Former Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverly opted for a permanent move to Everton while Ron Vlaar also decided against signing a new contract with the Villans — he now finds himself without a club and facing several months in limbo after knee surgery left him unable to play.

Sherwood has tried to freshen up the squad with keeper Mark Bunn, defender Micah Richards, midfielders Idrissa Gueye and Scott Sinclair all recruited, the latter joining permanently following a successful loan last season.

And on Saturday highly-rated French U21 defender Jordan Amavi joined the Midlands club from Nice.

But the manager’s plans will have been thrown into chaos following the departure of captain Fabian Delph, who headed north up the M6 to join Manchester City on Friday.

Despite pledging his loyalty to Villa on several occasions, Delph, who made 28 appearances in the league last season, joined the former Premier League champions in an £8 million deal.

And with Christian Benteke looking certain to join Liverpool within the next few days, after the Merseyside club triggered the £32.5m release in the Belgian’s contract, Sherwood must look to strengthen his squad further in the coming weeks.

He is said to be keen on the experienced Emmanuel Adebayor, whom he worked with at Tottenham, while QPR striker Charlie Austin has also been touted as a possible replacement for Benteke.

The recruitment process will hopefully be made easier following the appointment of the clubs first sporting director after Hendrik Almstadt recently joined from Arsenal.

The German has already worked with Villa’s chief executive Tom Fox and will work alongside both him and Sherwood looking after contract management, technical scouting and the academy.

But with owner Randy Lerner having not sold the club after announcing his decision to move on in May 2014, funds to strengthen the inexperienced squad will surely be restricted.

Despite this, all eyes will be on performance on the pitch and the Villa faithful will be hopeful that the attacking style Sherwood brought to the team after taking over from Paul Lambert midway through last season continues.

With games against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Sunderland in the first month of the new campaign, Villa must look to pick up points early on otherwise another survival scrap surely beckons.