Aston Villa appeared to have a real star on their hands when they brought Carles Gil to the Premier League – until Tim Sherwood arrived of course.
Carles Gil has admitted that his time at Aston Villa went ‘from heaven to hell’ once Tim Sherwood arrived at club, speaking to SuperDeporte.
For a while at least, a diminutive little playmaker looked like one of the most naturally talented footballers to pull on the claret and blue kit for many a year.
Gil marked his first ever start for the club with a stunning long-range strike against Bournemouth in the FA Cup before bettering even that with an acrobatic blockbuster in a clash with Sunderland. Suddenly, a £3.2 million signing from Valencia was closing in on cult-hero status in the blinking of an eye.
But the ill-fated appointment of former Spurs boss Sherwood in February 2015, just a month after Gil rocked up on English shores, saw things go very wrong very quickly for the Spanish schemer.
“It was the opposite of what usually happens, because it is difficult to adapt to England . As soon as I arrived my first two months were of a very high level but the results of the team did not accompany (my performances),” says the 27-year-old.
“There was a change of coach and it was like going from heaven to hell; from practically playing in every game to playing every three months and for forty minutes.”
After a rather ill-fated spell back in Spain with a struggling Deportivo la Coruna side beset with financial problems, Gil is now back to his magical best over in America. Since joining New England Revolution in January last year, the Valencia-born dynamo has produced 12 goals and ten assists in the MLS.
For Aston Villa fans and Gil himself, it’s tempting to wonder how his time in England would have gone if Paul Lambert hadn’t lost his job to Sherwood five years ago.
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