Unai Emery: 'Calum Chambers, Bertrand Traore can leave Aston Villa'

The West Midlands outfit are enjoying their best campaign in recent memory, sitting in second position in the Premier League standings and having qualified for the Europa Conference League last 16.

Emery has been required to utilise his squad in full to manage the workload, yet the likes of Chambers and Traore have barely been used.

Chambers has not played a single minute in the top flight, instead being restricted to 178 minutes across three matches in Europe.

Meanwhile, Traore has been provided with just six substitute outings across all competitions, not playing more than nine minutes in a game since the start of September.

Traore has less than six months remaining on his contract, with Chambers possessing a deal until 2025, but Emery is happy to get each player off the club's wage bill.

Nevertheless, Emery has indicated that Villa are prepared to remain patient in the January transfer window having been left impressed with the current players at his disposal.

Speaking to reporters, the Spaniard said: "We are not very focused on the transfer window because we are second at the moment.

"We are recovering some players who were out from the beginning of the season until now, like Alex Moreno and Jacob Ramsey. I am very happy with the players, very happy. The commitment of the players is really good.

"Two are players who can leave: Calum Chambers and Bertrand Traore. They are two players that know their situation through different circumstances.

"There are other players that can leave and if they do, then we can think about adding one or two players. The players we have now, I want to support and help. We have to be demanding to increase the quality so it is not easy to get something in this transfer window."

Emery has largely been able to select a settled team in the Premier League with as many as nine players starting at least 16 of their 20 fixtures.

With Liverpool not in action until next weekend, Villa have the opportunity to move level on points with the leaders when they face Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.