View: Top five Aston Villa transfer flops of the Premier League era
Aston Villa have had their fair share of transfer flops over the years, as failure to adjust to Brummie life, fan fallouts or a lack of talent have all resulted in dire spells at Villa Park.
From bright times under Martin O’Neill to depressing days languishing in the Championship under Steve Bruce, Villa have signed all kinds of personnel, so forming a top-five list was certainly a challenge.
But below are the Villa News top five transfer flops of the Premier League era.
5) Aleksandar Tonev
Aston Villa hoped they had unearthed a gem when signing £2.7million Tonev from Lech Poznan in 2013. They Hadn’t.
The Bulgarian winger failed to adapt to life in Birmingham, playing just 17 Premier League goals and failing to contribute a single goal or assist during his season in the team.
He was subsequently loaned to Celtic, where things got even worse, featuring just six times, with, once again, no assists or goals.
Tonev’s signing represented a relegation-doomed Villa who would sign anyone as a potential antidote to their multitude of financial restraints.
4) Charles N’Zogbia
Following the transfer of Ashley Young to Manchester United, Villa believed they had a ready-made replacement in £10million Wigan star N’Zogbia.
Placing the Frenchman on an eye-watering salary, the winger never got to grips with life at B6. There was no lack of talent, but the French international made just 93 appearances for the club over five seasons – with 30 of these coming from the bench.
Netting just five goals in as many seasons simply isn’t good enough for a marquee signing such as N’Zogbia.
3) Habib Beye
We are travelling back to the Martin O’Neill era to investigate this undoubted transfer flop.
Beye joined from Newcastle United in 2009 for £2.5million but managed just nine games in four years – and being red-carded in one of these.
The flop’s contract was eventually terminated in 2014, and he went on to join Doncaster Rovers. Simply put, Beye was a waste of space, time and money.
2) Joleon Lescott
Lescott’s time at Aston Villa was filled with on-field disappointment aplenty as well as off-field antics, which made his relationship with the fans fractious to say the least.
The centre-back was signed from local rivals West Brom for a £1.5million fee in the summer of 2015 (not exactly the best start) and placed on a reportedly hefty wage under Tim Sherwood’s guise.
In his solitary season at the club, he captained the side to possibly their most embarrassing campaign in its history, picking up just 17 points and conceding an unimaginable 76 goals in the Premier League.
However, his worst controversial moment in Claret and Blue came after Villa’s 6-0 humiliation to Liverpool.
Following the defeat and subsequent boos from fans on the full-time whistle, Lescott decided to post a picture of a £125,000 sports car on his Twitter, which he later called an error while his phone was in his pocket.
To say this angered Villa’s fans is an understatement, and subsequently, he must go down as the worst signing in the club’s history.
- Ross McCormack
Where do we start with Ross?
A prolific Championship goal-scorer, there was much excitement surrounding the £14million purchase of the Scot, who was labelled as the spearhead of Villa’s bounce back from Premier League relegation.
Over four seasons, the striker played just 20 times and scored a meagre three goals in Claret and Blue after previous successful spells at Leeds United, Cardiff City and Fulham.
During his spell, there were 21 consecutive months in which he didn’t feature for the first team, being sent on three loan spells and joining Aldershot Town after his dire spell in the west midlands was brought to a close.
His famous bust-up with Steve Bruce will go down in Aston Villa folk law, as he blamed a faulty gate for his failure to turn up to training.
Considering Villa broke the Championship transfer record fee at the time to sign the attacker, his transfer to must go down as the biggest flop in the club’s history.
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