"Other clubs have come out of the Championship and spent more" - Danny Murphy makes bold Aston Villa transfer claim involving Steven Gerrard

Former England midfielder Danny Murphy believes Aston Villa have not backed manager Steven Gerrard enough in the transfer market.

The Villans have spent £14 million net this summer and have brought in high-profile stars such as Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and Philippe Coutinho. Lucas Digne also arrived from Everton in January but Murphy believes his former Liverpool teammate requires more.

The pundit told talkSPORT (as quoted by The Birmingham Mail):

"I've looked at it since he's come in and they've spent £33million roughly net, they haven't been big spenders. When he went in there, there was a lot of promise that they were going to give him money to bring in players."

"There's bringing in Coutinho and, yes, he's a big name but they've only spent £20m on him. I don't think they've backed him like I thought they were going to. Other clubs have come out of the Championship and spent more."

Gerrard left Rangers to join Aston Villa last November but is under pressure following a poor run of form. The former European champions have lost three of their opening four Premier League games and are on a dismal run of just three wins in 15 top-flight encounters.

Aston Villa finished last season in a disappointing 14th place and will face Arsenal (August 31) and Manchester City (September 3) in their next two games.

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Steven Gerrard keen to turn things around at Aston Villa following poor run

Villa's latest defeat came at home to West Ham United, who had previously failed to pick up a single point all season.

Boos rang around Villa Park following the full-time whistle and Gerrard acknowledged that he was under pressure. The former England star told BBC Sport after the game:

"I’ve been through tough times as a player and in my short managerial reign. I’ve been faced with challenges, heat and pressure, and I’ll take it on my shoulders. There’s no one more determined than me to change this current situation."

"We haven’t started the season well enough, results haven’t been good enough and I accept that. We have a choice between feeling sorry for ourselves or we step forward."

Gerrard also refused to rule out adding to his Aston Villa squad before the September 1 transfer deadline. The Villa boss stated:

"It's possible we'll be doing more. It's not as straightforward as people think. We've spoken before about the blow from (Diego) Carlos because he was a statement signing who was going to come in and help us. If things go our way, we could have one or two new faces in."