Dean Smith believes Ross Barkley signing will help Aston Villa shed the "one-man team" tag

Barkley, who joined this week on a season-long loan from Chelsea, is poised to make his debut when champions Liverpool visit Villa Park tomorrow evening.

The 26-year-old midfielder was Villa’s fifth signing of a transfer window in which part of the focus has been easing the burden on skipper Jack Grealish.

Smith believes in adding Barkley and the likes of Bertrand Traore to the squad, the club has been successful.

He said: “There’s an awful lot of potential there. I’ve spoken about taking a bit of pressure off Jack and the signings that we’ve made will help to do that.

“That’s got to be good for the team – a lot of people expected Jack to get a lot of the ball. Teams would double up on him.

“Obviously when you add more quality to the squad, it allows other people in the squad more time on the ball now.”

Grealish played a key role in convincing Barkley, his close friend off the pitch, to join Villa.

Smith believes the signing was another statement of intent from the club and thinks the move can be mutually beneficial, with Barkley targeting a place at next summer’s European Championships.

The Everton academy product has been capped 33 times by England, but omitted from the last two Three Lions’ squads.

“He has got a target and is a player you expect to be in the England squad,” said Smith. “It raises your eyebrows when he is not in there.

“That is his ambition now, to get back into the squad. He can certainly do that by becoming a driving force in ours.

“The signings we have made already, along with Jack (Grealish) and Tyrone (Mings) committing their futures as well, I think that’s one of the reasons we got Ross.

“Ross has looked at it and thought this is a club I can go and help drive forward and enhance my career this season by getting as many minutes as I can. Certainly Ross having a good time with us is going to help us and him.”

Villa, who have won their opening two Premier League matches, can match their best start to a league campaign since 1962 with victory tomorrow, though that will be easier said than done against a Reds outfit who have started the campaign in ominous form.

Smith knows the encounter will provide the best marker yet for the progress his team have made since last season.

Villa avoided an immediate return to the Championship by the skin of their teeth, but the boss now sees a greater confidence and maturity within his players.

“I don’t think there was ever a fear factor last season, more of a newness,” he said. “You just weren’t quite sure which Aston Villa would turn up.

“At times we were scintillating and played quite good football but then you would have a Watford performance away from home when we were awful. So we had that about us.

“But I felt from the moment we came back after the lockdown there was certainly more consistency within our performances.

“Players who have grown in stature, players that feel and believe they are Premier League players now.

“Since the end of last season we have actually added quality to that and there is a different dimension to our team now. So in terms of what lines up against Liverpool it will be a great marker for us to see how far we have moved on.”

Villa are assessing Kortney Hause after the centre-back was forced off in Thursday’s Carabao Cup defeat to Stoke.

Tom Heaton (knee) and Bjorn Engels (thigh) both remain out.