Aston Villa’s last Premier League match was a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in 2016, so where are the subs from that day now?
At the end of the 2015/16 season Aston Villa were relegated from the top flight of English football for the first time in 29 years.
Their status as one of the few clubs who had played in every Premier League campaign since its rebranding in 1992 was gone after a dismal year that saw both Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde sacked as managers.
The Villans demotion to the Championship was confirmed with a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on April 16 and they ended the term with a 4-0 loss at Arsenal, but where are those on the substitutes bench that day at the Emirates Stadium now?
Brad Guzan
Having played the majority of the season as the number one, Guzan was dropped in favour of Mark Bunn and would join Middlesbrough that summer. The American is now back in his native country with Atlanta United.
Micah Richards
Perhaps the best representation of the overspending that had been rife at Villa Park, Richards is still at the club earning a reported £35,000-a-week but has not played since 10 October 2016. The defender is contracted until 2019.
Adama Traore
A graduate of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, the winger arrived in Birmingham with much promise in the summer of 2015 and although showed it in glimpses, never truly fulfilled his potential. Traore joined Guzan at Boro in 2016 and was relegated for a second successive campaign, but is now greatly impressing in the second tier.
Carles Gil
Another 2015 summer signing, Gil is still on the books at Villa but has spent the past two years on loan at Deportivo La Coruna and according to Birmingham Live, his parent club are hoping that is made permanent.
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy
Aged only 17 at the time when named on the bench against the Gunners, Hepburn-Murphy is still at the club and now aged 19 has not yet kicked on as many would have hoped with ten first team appearances to the striker’s name to date. But there is still time.
Rudy Gestede
The links to the Riverside continue with Gestede joining the Teessiders in January 2017 for a fee reported by the BBC to be between £6m and £7m, after scoring ten goals in 55 games for Villa. The 29-year-old is still there.
Jack Grealish
Finally a positive tale, Grealish may have had problems on and off the pitch in the past but the attacking midfielder is now a vital part of the Villans’ renaissance under manager Steve Bruce and is finally starting to fulfill the great potential the 22-year-old showed early in his career.
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