Have we said goodbye to Eric?

"Maybe I could come back. Why not?" he said after the last game of the season against Coventry. "I've enjoyed my football here. You need to be playing regular football and it was very frustrating not to play many games at Villa, but now I've had a chance to play and I'm happy with that. I'm thankful to Steve Cotterill and Burnley for giving me that opportunity and I can't forget that.

"If I get the opportunity to play in the Premiership then that would be good for me, but if Aston Villa don't want to keep me I don't want to go back and not play football, so if Burnley are willing to keep me it would be good to stay because the lads in the dressing room here are fantastic.

"Since I came the manager has impressed me with what he's trying to do. This team could get into the Premiership. You can see in the last six games we've played, we're passing the ball well and beating teams like Birmingham and West Brom. We can do that next season. We have good players and I think I can help them to get into the Premiership. That would be nice so we will wait and see what happens in the summer."

Eric lost his place in the side after harshly being sent off at Derby at the end of January and after serving his suspension found himself on the bench for five games, but since winning his place in the midfield at Preston he's turned in a series of man of the match performances. I don't think there will be many Burnley fans who wouldn't welcome him back.