Christopher Samba must prove his fitness to earn Aston Villa deal

The 32-year-old defender is training with Steve Bruce's squad following his release from Panathinaikos.

Samba is a free agent but Bruce is expected to take his time before deciding whether to offer the former Blackburn star a contract until the end of the season.

"We all know what a good player he is. It's just his physical condition and that what he wants to improve on," said Bruce.

"He is not on trial as such, he has come in and wants to help us if he can. He wants to earn a contract.

"It could be just a bit of experience and know-how. If he is physically right we will see how he is in the next week to two weeks."

Samba made nearly 200 appearances for Rovers but has enjoyed a somewhat nomadic career since leaving Ewood Park in 2012 and he made just six appearances in Greece this season before being released.

Villa are currently on a dreadful run which has seen them lose seven of their last eight league games and Bruce has identified an increasingly leaky defence as an area of prime concern.

The 13 goals conceded over the past six games accounts for more than a third of their total for the season and has led to Bruce making continual changes to the backline in a bid to stem the flow.

"We haven't defended well, we've made mistakes and we have to eradicate that," he said.

"We need to defend our box better. There was nothing in the game at Newcastle for 43 minutes and we were arguably the better team.

"But we've managed to concede from a basic corner which we haven't won the first, second or third challenge and it ends up a horrible goal.

"We can't seem to get any of those. We have to eradicate it. When you're up against it, every mistake you make is punished."