Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood says he's seeking a lower league partner club.

Sherwood plans to utilise the loan system next season.

"The U21 games programme does not work so you need to find a competitive environment for them," he said. "(At Spurs) we used Swindon as a good area for us where we sent them there en masse.

"Andros Townsend, Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Jake Livermore - they have had eight, nine, ten loans.

"What I don't do is judge them when they're out on loan. I know what they have when I'm in the building.

"I send them out on loan not to judge them as footballers, because they're almost playing a different sport when you send them down the lower leagues.

"If you're loaning them to the Premier League then they're playing against top opposition like Danny Rose and Kyle Walker did."