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COACH Dean Smith has told the Birmingham Mail that Aston Villa new boy Marvelous Nakamba isn’t fit enough.

Villa made 12 new signings over the summer, but Nakamba is yet to be seen in the first-team squad.

The powerful midfielder has been left out of Villa’s first two matches.

And Smith admits that Marvelous needs to work on his fitness before he’s ready to feature.

“He’s done extra work in training on Saturday and he’s still a little bit off it,” Smith said.

“He played one game in the Africa Cup of Nations and got injured and hasn’t done an awful lot of training afterwards so when he came to us we’ve been working on his fitness.”

If Nakamba is to break into Villa’s starting line-up, he will have a fight on his hands for a first team spot.

Douglas Luiz came into Villa’s team and scored a belter on debut, as he aims to nail down his starting place.

Jack Grealish and John McGinn’s spots in Smith’s line-up look secure already, which means that Nakamba may well be left on Villa’s bench to start off with.

Villa are yet to pick up a point since returning to the topflight, with their next match coming against Everton. – HITC