The Bulgarian attacker failed to impress at either Aston Villa or on loan at Celtic.
If any player sums up the baffling recruitment tactics employed by Aston Villa in the post-Martin O’Neil world, it’s Aleksandar Tonev’s arrival from Lech Poznan in 2013. One season and 17 games later, the Bulgarian was shipped out on loan to Celtic – not that his prospects would improve north of the border.
Tonev copped a seven-game ban after being found guilty of ‘using language of an abusive or racist nature’ towards Aberdeen defender Shay Logan on his debut, as reported by the BBC, and only featured five more times in Celtic colours.
Unsurprisingly then, Hoops boss Neil Lennon didn’t rush to make his season-long loan permanent, as reported by the Birmingham Mail, and, after just two years on British shores, the erratic, frustrating Tonev was heading back to the continent.
However, with current club Crotone eight points adrift of safety in Serie A, the 27-year-old is now facing up to the prospect of successive relegations having tumbled through the trapdoor with Frosinone in 2015/16.
And, perhaps most damningly of all, Tonev has contributed a grand total of zero goals and one assist in 31 Serie A appearances since the start of last season. In 2016/17, he is yet to even create a goal in the Italian top flight.
It was his wastefulness, his penchant of widely swiping at presentable opportunities that cut short his time with Villa and Celtic and its fair to say his end product still leaves a lot to be desired.
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