Last summer saw a number of arrivals, with more than £120million spent, but only a final-day draw at West Ham saw Smith’s side stay up by a point in 17th position.

The sporting director’s transfers included forward Wesley from Club Brugge for £22million, while £11.5million was spent on left-back Matt Targett from Southampton.

Pitarch, commonly known as Suso, has now paid the price for a tough first season back in the Premier League for Villa and the club will look to improve their recruitment strategy ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.

An official club statement read: “The board would like to thank Suso for his hard work in restructuring the playing squad after the change of ownership in 2018, and for setting in place foundations for future success including the reorganisation of our academy.”