Who is the worst Villa signing of all time?
We`ve had a busy transfer window so far (by our standards at any rate) and it would be fair to say that most of the new signings have met with fan approval, and on paper at least, offer some improvement to the squad at Tim Sherwood`s disposal. But our track record in the transfer market is not without it`s fair share of head-scratchers, failures and downright shockers.
But who tops the list? Or rather, who trawls the bottom, having stunk out B6 with their alarming inability to, well, do anything much at all? Comments are welcome – in fact, they are strongly encouraged – but to kick things off, I present (in nor particular order) the first 8 inductees into the AVFC ‘Hall of Shame`. Plenty of our managers could make a strong case for being included in such a dubious pantheon, as could one or two of our executives, I dare say. But for now, we`ll look at the players who truly came, saw, and disappeared without trace.
Nigel Callaghan – signed from Derby after impressive spells with Watford, and then the Rams, Callaghan`s career ground to a resounding halt at Villa (not the first, and certainly not the last!) – 3 years, 26 games and one goal.
Eric Djemba-Djemba – so good they named him twice, we were promised. Signed from Man United in January 2005, Djemba-Djemba hung around for 2 seasons (a large part of which was spent on loan at Burnley, where he made more appearances – 15 – than he did for Villa – 11) before being quietly shipped off to Qatar, never to be heard of again. Until now, obviously.
Boko Balaban – Croatian signed for £5.8m in 2001, Villa fans looked forward to new (and improved, if reports were accurate) Savo Miloević. 2 years and a mere 9 games later, he was shipped out to Club Brugge having spectacularly failed to become even the ‘old` Savo Miloević.
Saa Ćurčic – signed from Bolton in 1996 for £4m, Sasa`s spell in B6 will probably be remembered more for his off-the-field antics than anything he delivered on the pitch. Wild parties, drugs and double-decker buses featured heavily, meaningful contributions and goals, not so much. Despatched to Palace 2 years, 29 appearances and no goals later.
Nii Lamptey – once dubbed ‘the new Pelé` and signed by ‘Big` Ron Atkinson in 1994, after a reasonably successful spell in the Low Countries with Anderlecht & PSV, great things were expected of the Ghanaian. They did not materialise. What make sit more bizarre is that Ron signed him AGAIN when he took over at Coventry!
Jean Makoun – 165 appearances for Lille, numerous Champions League appearances and a 14m transfer to Lyon. Makoun had the world at his feet, but things went rapidly downhill from there. A reported £6m transfer to Villa saw Makoun make just 10 appearances (with most of his 2 years spent on loan with Olympiakos and Rennes) before being permanently fobbed off to Rennes for an ‘undisclosed amount`.
Yacouba Sylla – a fairly undistinguished spell in France with Clermont Foot in Ligue 2 convinced Paul Lambert to cough up £2m for Sylla. He hung around for a couple of seasons (again spending most of his spell on loan in Turkey, where he played more games than he did for Villa) before Rennes again came to our rescue and took him on a free this summer.
Ivo Sta – The third of our unholy East European trinity! Apart from a couple of pre-season away friendlies, Stas never actually played for Villa. Having signed from Banik Ostrava by the legendary Dr Jo, the closest Ivo came to playing in Claret and Blue at Villa Park was a place on the bench for Paul Birch`s testimonial. Sta did manage to score for Villa though – for Banik in a UEFA Cup game!
So there we have them, the Less-than-Magnificent, er, Eight; virtually all of whom unplayable on their day – quite literally! Mind you, at least we didn`t have anyone to rival Ali Dia, the infamous (ahem) ‘cousin` of George Weah
.
Over to you folks
. which other con-artists masquerading as footballers deserve election to the Hall of Shame?
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