Aston Villa have confirmed that the club sacked sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch a day after Villa avoided relegation from the Premier League.

Villa's 1-1 draw away to West Ham was enough to stay up but there had been plenty of criticism of the club's recruitment at the start of the season.

Pitarch was relieved of his duties on Monday and Villa confirmed the news on Tuesday morning.

A club statement read: "Aston Villa can confirm that Jesus Garcia Pitarch’s contract as Sporting Director has ended.

"Mr Pitarch, who is known as Suso, joined Aston Villa in October 2018.

"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."

Villa spent over £140m last summer, with Pitarch at the forefront of player identification and appointment.

Club-record signing Wesley, Trezeguet, Matt Targett, Marvelous Nakamba and Mbwana Samatta were some of the players brought in by the Spaniard.

It's believed manager Dean Smith was responsible for the signings of Tyrone Mings and Tom Heaton.

Villa are now on the lookout for a new sporting director, who will be tasked with bringing in new players but the hardest job could be trying to hold onto club captain Jack Grealish.

The 24-year-old scored the all important goal against West Ham on the final day and has been linked with several clubs, most notably Manchester United.