where are they now?

[trevor fisher]

prodded by the news that Brighton are going to offer Steve Sidwell a new contract as at 34 he is still up for the Premiership, and even more annoyed by watching Gary Cahill captaining Chelsea on the final Match of the Day, a list of the ex Villa Players who were or could be playing in the Premiership suddenly appeared on my notebook. Its unlikely to be complete, but its sobering. This is the list

Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Marc Albrighton (Leicester), Gareth Barry (Everton), James Milner (Liverpool), Ashley Young (Man U), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Peter Crouch (lovely goal Peter to win the game for Stoke), Jordan Ayew (Swansea), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Rudy Gestede, Adama Traore, Brad Guzan, Stewart Downing (Middlesborough), Tom Cleverley (Watford), and someone called Fabian Delph, a loyalist lost on the way to Manchester. And the one who really got away since I don't think he ever played for the first team, Daniel Sturridge.

We may not sign many players this close season, which is a worry. Bigger question is why so much top talent went missing.

[MoetVillan]

That lineup for Middlesbrough doesn't look so sporty to be fair..... And while I was gutted that Cleverly left at the time, has he really pulled up any trees?

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Bertrand, cleverley and walker were loans

Guzan, Traore and gestede top talents really?

Ayew was a sulk who flattered to deceive

Young, barry, milner and delph had better offers and wanted to leave

The only valid ones on that list are cahill and albrighton, having said that at the time i thought it was right for marc to go as he was stagnating. He got proper coaching and now look at him

[eamonn]

Isn't it great that football is a team game and some coaches manage to blend the right players with the right attitude together? It's time we did the same. Don't look back in anger.

[JD]

Missed Steve Davis at Southampton. He's the one we could have done with in the past few years.

[andyh]

I think Barry turned out for Everton yesterday as well.

Now, if there is one player who we could bring back and make a real difference to us next year, it him.

[Scratchins]

Martin O'Neill said that Gary Cahill could do everything except defend; so he sold him.

[Virgil Caine]

Noticed last night that Chris Herd will be released by Gillingham.

[cdbearsfan]

Bannan has looked pretty good when I've seen him lately, although I always liked him so may be biased. While I didn't particularly rate him at Villa, I heard the other day that Hogg won Huddersfield Player of the Year. Considering how far they finished ahead of us, that suggests he may have been an asset if he had been retained.

[SoccerHQ]

Level we're at now the two lads at PNE would be assests in our time particularly Robinson.

Only trouble with these threads is we sold many of those players when we were at a much higher level. For example we let go of Steven Davis when we were pushing for top 4.

We let go of  Bannan and all the others to the championship when we were still looking to regroup as a prem club.

Main issue for me is we've lost key players and replaced them with utter rubbish which have set us back massively. Losing Milner, Young and Downing in one year and replacing them with N'Zogbia and Ireland being a main example and then selling Benteke and replacing him with Gestede.

[peter w]

Didn't Davis left because he didn't want to play out on the left? And we weren't pushing for top 4 when he left.

[SoccerHQ]

Didn't Davis left because he didn't want to play out on the left? And we weren't pushing for top 4 when he left.

He left August 2007 so right at the start of our 3 year push of top 4 while finishing 6th.

He went to Fulham, didn't pull up any trees, went to Rangers where he dominated in a league even worse than the championship and then joined Southampton in August 2012 and took a while to break into the team.

Don't get me wrong he's a good player nowadays for club and country but at the level we were at I wouldn't have had him ahead of Petrov, Milner or Barry. He'd have been a good squad player but like Cahill he wanted to play every week which was understandable.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Jonathan Hogg could be back in the PL next season. By all accounts he's been superb for Huddersfield this season. I remember his debut at Villa Park against Man Utd, probably the last time we actually gave them a game.

Edit: Bloody hell, where does the time go, just realised Hogg is 28.

[SoccerHQ]

Should've kept Enda Stevens then.

[trevor fisher]

yes JD is right, I missed Steve Davis at Southampton. And I recall seeing James Collins playing for West Ham this season, he may be there next season as well.

The comments here are fair that Hogg, Bannan and others may become prem players, but at the moment its looking at people who might have worked for us in the Prem, who we cast aside, that is what is hurting. I also forgot Scott Sinclair. Next season we can see him in the champion's league, though he did not do so good at Villa, Man City or Swansea.

 But Barry.... what a miss. He wanted to come back rather than Everton, we would not pay the fee, said to be £4m. I expect him to break the all time record for Premiership appearances next season. And the comment by O'Neill on Cahill..... If Cahill picks up the Cup on Saturday, O'Neill should apologise.

Some clubs pick up cheap buys and turn them into good players. We take good players and turn them into cheap buys. What goes on behind the scenes?