NEW Burnley loan signing Peter Whittingham has somehow slipped from being crowned Aston Villa's Young Player of the Year last season to the fringes of David O'Leary's first team squad.

Gareth Barry and Thomas Hitzlsperger have both been preferred on the left of midfield, where Whittingham made his mark last season by starting 21 of the first 22 league games.

But it is in central midfiedwhere Steve Cotterill now hopes the England U21 international can make his mark.

The Burnley boss said: "Obviously we have a necessity for a midfielder because we only have two central players at the moment. At times we've played with three, but once James O'Connor went back to West Brom and Richard Chaplow left, we've been light in that area and it's not everyday you get the chance to sign a quality player like Peter."

Whittingham made his Villa debut against Newcastle United in April 2003 and his first goal came in a 5-0 Carling Cup win at Wycombe last season before he was made a scapegoat following the 5-2, Carling Cup semi-final defeat at Bolton.

Then a perennial substitute, he again found himself in the shadows earlier this season, making just five Premiership and two Carling Cup starts - one at Burnley - before Cotterill persuaded Villa to release him last weekend.

Cotterill revealed: "We trained at Villa last Friday and that gave us chance to have a chat with David O'Leary, who gave us the go ahead to take him on loan, initially for a month, but we'll sit down after that and maybe extend it and if Peter can come in and do the same as Gary Cahill, he'll be an excellent signing for us."