Ayew has mostly been picked to operate from the wings in the Aston Villa setup with Rudy Gestede playing upfront in the 2-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Barton told BBC Sport of his former Olympique Marseille teammate:

“Their team against Spurs had two strikers in it but one of them, Jordan Ayew, was on the left of midfield.

“I played with Ayew at Marseille and he is a central striker, either on his own or with a partner, but he was being asked to be a left midfielder and get up and down that flank.”

Aston Villa are struggling to get themselves out of their relegation mess and have not taken a single point from their last five Premier League fixtures.

Jordan Ayew joined Aston Villa in the summer but has been tipped to leave the club at the end of the season with  West Ham United reported interested.

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