Aston Villa sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch is set to leave.

The Daily Mail says the club's owners are contemplating a change in leadership as they plan for the future, particularly if they are relegated back into the Championship, amid growing tensions behind the scenes at Villa Park.

Manager Dean Smith's future is in doubt, though it is understood the club will not decide the 49-year-old's future until the end of the season.

Unsettled Burnley boss Sean Dyche is known to have admirers in the Villa boardroom and would be attracted to a Midlands move under the right circumstances.

However, Pitarch, also known as Suso, is fighting to keep his job heading into the final weeks of the season, with sources claiming it is 'inevitable' the Spaniard departs.

There are major concerns from within Villa Park about some of the signings Suso, who joined the club in October 2018, has helped engineer since the club returned to the Premier League at the end of last season.