Marvelous Nakamba delivered an outstanding performance despite his Aston Villa side losing 2-0 to Stoke City in a friendly match played on Saturday.

The midfielder started in the encounter but went off on the hour after coach Dean Smith brought in a new team.

Nakamba did well to cover the defence and engineered a couple of brilliant through balls but the attacks yielded nothing. His passing was superb and was undoubtedly the most visible Villa player on the pitch.

The performance comes at a time the Zimbabwean is in the news following reported interest from Premier League sides Everton and Crystal Palace.

The two sides are considering approaching Villa before the end of the transfer window.

However, Nakamba is still considered an important player in the Claret and Blue squad and is expected to be Smith’s preferred anchorman in the opening games of the coming season as Douglas Luiz will not be available. The Brazilian will be recovering after playing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics games scheduled to start this month.