Losing your two most inspirational players in the same window is pretty rotten luck but many teams have managed to cope in those circumstances by reinvesting the funds raised by sales in exciting, new, fresh talent.
In 2015, Aston Villa were faced with a bit of a predicament when Liverpool and Manchester City raided them for their star player Christian Benteke and captain Fabian Delph respectively.
Villa received just over £40m for their star duo while unwanted squad members such as Andreas Weimann, Yacouba Sylla and Matthew Lowton were also moved on to free up more room in Tim Sherwood’s budget.
Sherwood’s stock at the time was pretty high. He was considered unfortunate, by some, to lose his job at Tottenham after winning 50% of his games in charge and then kept Villa in the top-flight in 2014-15 as well as steering them to a first FA Cup final in 15 years.
Consequently, Villa’s board had no hesitation in handing him virtually all of the funds brought in from Benteke and Delph’s sales to bring new players in and Sherwood responded by adding 12 new faces to supplement his squad.
We all know how this particular story ends… Despite winning their first league game against Bournemouth, Villa won only two more in the remainder of the season and Sherwood was replaced by Remi Garde after a few months.
Villa remain in the Championship having narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season and just two of Sherwood’s 2015 additions remain at the club, so where are the rest of them?
Jordan Amavi
Signed from: Nice
Fee: £9m
Current club: Marseille
Signed following a spectacular breakthrough season with Nice in Ligue 1 in which he scored four goals and completed 67 take on attempts from left back, Jordan Amavi was regarded as an exciting recruit for the Villains.
The Frenchman made an impressive start at Villa before suffering a season-ending injury while playing for France’s U21 team. When he returned, the club were in the Championship and he was transfer-listed to free up some space on the wage bill.
A move to Sevilla broke down when the clubs clashed over the results of his medical but he ended up joining Marseille on loan and his form for them led to a senior call-up to the French squad.
In October of last year, Marseille decided to make Amavi’s move permanent and the left-back played a key role in the Ligue 1 side’s Europa League run which saw them reach the final, only to be beaten by Atletico Madrid.
Idrissa Gueye
Signed from: Lille
Fee: £9m
Current club: Everton
Villa famously cancelled their Player of the Year award that season due to their abject form, but that was slightly unfortunate on Idrissa Gueye who was the one bright note in the team during a desperate season.
Gueye recorded N’Golo Kante-esque statistics for interceptions (140) and tackles won (108) during Villa’s relegation season and was snapped up by Everton where his efforts have been far more appreciated by the wider football public.
The Senegalese international has played a prominent role for Marco Silva’s side so far this season having completed 20 of Everton’s 24 Premier League matches to date.
Jordan Ayew
Signed from: FC Lorient
Fee: £8m
Current club: Crystal Palace (on loan from Swansea City)
Sherwood stated that Jordan Ayew was ‘perfectly suited’ to Premier League football upon his arrival from Lorient following a season in which he struck 12 goals in Ligue 1.
Considering how dire Villa were, Ayew didn’t do too badly in a claret and blue shirt, scoring seven times in their relegation season but he left in January 2017, joining Swansea in a swap deal with Neil Taylor.
The Ghanian forward joined Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace on transfer deadline day this summer. He has started 11 of the Eagles’ 23 matches, scoring once.
Jordan Veretout
Signed from: FC Nantes
Fee: £8m
Current club: Fiorentina
The third and final Jordan to move to Villa that summer, Veretout also made his name in Ligue 1 with Nantes and reportedly picked Villa over a host of top clubs, including that season’s Premier League champions Leicester.
Unlike Amavi and Ayew, Veretout never really looked comfortable in the Premier League and was off shortly after relegation was confirmed, joining Saint-Etienne on loan before linking up with Fiorentina permanently.
Adama Traore
Signed from: Barcelona
Fee: £7m
Current club: Wolves
Quite possibly the most direct footballer in the history of the game, Adama Traore was highly-rated when he moved to Villa but managed just one (admittedly outrageous) assist for the club in a defeat against Sunderland.
Although he only made ten appearances in the Premier League for the Villains he earned a move to Middlesbrough where he suffered a second relegation in as many years and again managed just one assist.
But Traore has got his career on track again after an impressive 2017/18 season in the Championship which saw him move to Premier League newcomers Wolves in a deal worth a reported £18m. He has made 22 appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side so far this season, registering one goal and one assist.
Rudy Gestede
Signed from: Blackburn Rovers
Fee: £6m
Current club: Middlesbrough
You could see what Villa were thinking with this one. After losing one physical specimen and aerial duel champion in attack in Benteke, they signed the Championship version Rudy Gestede from Blackburn to replace him.
Although he provided Villa with a presence up front Gestede struggled to replace Benteke’s potency in front of goal scoring five goals and like Traore, he departed to join Boro in January 2017 for another crack at the Premier League (before suffering relegation again). He’s featured four times in the league this term.
Scott Sinclair
Signed from: Manchester City
Fee: £2.5m
Current club: Celtic
Scott Sinclair helped Villa stave off the threat of relegation in 2014-15 during a loan spell and as a reward for his performances, he was signed on a permanent basis that summer.
Sadly for Sinclair things went downhill after he arrived on a full-time basis but he has revitalised his career following the club’s relegation becoming one of the stars of Celtic’s team that went unbeaten in the league in 2016/17.
He has struggled for form this season but has still made 35 appearances in all competitions, scoring 12.
Joleon Lescott
Signed from: West Brom
Fee: £1m
Current club: Man City (non-playing role)
Despite playing well for West Brom the allure of playing for his boyhood club was too big to turn down and Joleon Lescott forced through a move to Villa late on in the summer transfer window.
He probably regrets that decision now… the nadir of Lescott’s brief career at the club was when he ‘accidentally’ tweeted a picture of a Mercedes shortly after his side had been thumped 6-0 by Liverpool at home resulting in a barrage of criticism in his direction.
Lescott left under a cloud after less than a year at Villa and briefly turned out for AEK Athens and then Sunderland where he also suffered relegation.
He is now a loanee player liaison agent for Man City.
Micah Richards
Signed from: Manchester City
Fee: Free
Current club: Aston Villa
Just what the hell happened to Micah Richards?! This was a guy tipped to captain England for years after breaking into Manchester City’s team as a teenager but by the time he arrived at Villa Park his standing in the game was on the wane.
Unfortunately, for Richards, his status as club captain will forever be attributed to the club’s worst ever season. These days, he’s generally found sat in the Villa Park stands having completely fallen out-of-favour. Due to chronic knee issues, he’s set to retire come the end of the season.
Jose Angel Crespo
Signed from: Cordoba
Fee: £500,000
Current club: PAOK
What a bizarre signing this was. Quite why Villa felt the need to sign a limited, jack-of-all-trades Spanish journeymen is anyone’s guess and unsurprisingly he barely registered on the radar, making just one Premier League appearance.
Mark Bunn
Signed from: Norwich City
Fee: Free
Current club: Aston Villa
Signed to play a backup role in the squad, Mark Bunn still managed 10 appearances and didn’t perform too badly considering the circumstances, keeping four clean sheets in 10 games.
He’s currently still one of the reserve options at Aston Villa and has made one appearance this season.
Tiago Ilori
Signed from: Liverpool
Fee: Loan
Current club: Sporting Lisbon
A deal that was even more pointless than Crespo’s as Tiago Ilori didn’t even play once.
Ilori was once earmarked by Brendan Rodgers as a centre-back that would be in the Liverpool team for 10 years, but his highly anticipated move from Sporting Lisbon never quite worked out.
The Portuguese defender is now playing for Sporting Lisbon once again after sealing a move away from Reading, where he had been since 2017.
The post Where are they now? the 12 signings of Aston Villa’s crazy 2015 window appeared first on Squawka News.
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