View: The former Aston Villa players you may have forgotten about
Aston Villa have had a turbulent last decade, seeing far too many players come and go and most getting lost in the shuffle.
Every club has their famously forgotten players and Villa are no exception, having some of the most famous examples of forgotten transfers.
Back in 2011 Villa had Robert Pires, Kyle Walker and Michael Bradley all in the same team, with only Walker leaving any real impression.
However, these transfers are so famous for being obscure, that they cannot really be considered to be obscure anymore.
For this piece, we only looked for the most oddball players that you will do well to remember ever playing for the club.
Remember them?
First up is goalkeeping flop Andre Moreira, who played just twice in the League Cup after arriving on loan in 2018.
Moreira was the forgotten first signing of the NSWE era at Villa and arrived at Villa Park on loan from Atletico Madrid.
Big things were expected of the Portuguese shot-stopper, but Steve Bruce never rated him and signed Orjan Nyland over the top of him.
Dean Smith rated him even less, never even naming him on the bench and he was sent packing in January 2019.
Villa’s 2015/16 summer window saw them sign the likes of Adama, Idrissa Gueye and Jordan Veretout, but one man who went unnoticed was Jose Angel Crespo.
The Spanish defender arrived at Villa from Cordoba for less than £1 million and pulled on the Villa shirt just once in the Premier League before leaving on loan.
That summer also saw Tiago Illori arrive on loan from Liverpool, but as he never actually played a match he was not considered.
If you go back a few years to 2013, you will find the ultimate forgotten Villa player.
Simon Dawkins arrived at Villa Park on loan from Tottenham on January deadline day and was utterly anonymous during his short spell at the club.
He played just 71 minutes of football across his four appearances (Transfermarkt) and he quietly left without many realising he was ever there.
Dawkins had a decent spell at Derby County after leaving Spurs for good in 2014 before departing for San Jose Earthquakes in 2016.
There are of course many others, including Ritchie De Laet, Tom Carroll and Habib Beye, but these were our picks for the most obscure in recent years.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans are not interested in Rangers star Joe Aribo.