Aston Villa are eager to find a buyer for goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic – after his pay rocketed by £1m following the club's Premier League promotion.

Villa spent £8m bringing Burnley's Tom Heaton to the club in the summer and the Croatia international has now disappeared from view.

Dean Smith prefers Jed Steer to take a place on the bench – he was given a major pay rise too after the part he played in helping Villa to promotion – and that has left Kalinic on the outside.

And the flop, a £7m signing from Gent just seven months ago, is now taking home a whopping £2.5m for being third-choice – and he may be fourth in line given that the former European Champions also have Orjan Nyland on their books, says the Mirror.

Villa have circulated the player's name far and wide during the summer but so far there have been no takers.