Aston Villa’s worst Premier League signings of all time

Throughout the Premier League era, Aston Villa have made plenty of top-quality signings, but there have also been a handful of deals that failed to live up to expectations.

Some arrived for sizeable transfer fees but struggled to make an impact, while others commanded hefty wages without producing performances that justified the financial outlay.

That does not necessarily mean they were poor players, but for one reason or another, things simply never clicked for them at Villa Park.

Here, FootballWhispers counts down Aston Villa's five worst signings of the Premier League era.

5) Wesley

Aston Villa broke their club-record transfer fee to bring Wesley to Villa Park from Club Brugge in 2019, with hopes that the Brazilian forward could become a long-term solution up front.

Wesley had built an impressive reputation in Belgium, scoring 38 goals and providing 14 assists in 130 appearances for Club Brugge before making the move to the Premier League.

However, his time at Villa quickly turned into a nightmare, as he managed just six goals in 22 appearances during his debut campaign before suffering a serious cruciate knee ligament injury following a tackle by Burnley's Ben Mee.

The injury kept Wesley out for 480 days, and he made only four appearances across the next two seasons before spending time on loan and eventually leaving Villa permanently for Stoke City.

It was a desperately unlucky spell for the striker, who never managed to rediscover his best form after the devastating injury.

4) Philippe Coutinho

Philippe Coutinho never quite rediscovered the brilliance that made him such a star at Liverpool after his big-money move to Barcelona, and his career was already heading in the wrong direction by the time he arrived at Villa Park.

The Brazilian initially joined Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona in January 2022, reuniting with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard, who was in charge of the club at the time.

Coutinho made an instant impact, scoring five goals during his loan spell, which convinced Villa to make the move permanent for a reported £17m.

However, the spark quickly disappeared, with the playmaker managing just one goal in 24 appearances after his permanent switch and subsequently spending time away from the club on loan.

Given that Coutinho was already showing signs of decline when he first arrived, Villa's decision to commit a sizeable portion of their budget to a permanent deal ultimately looks like a poor one in hindsight.

3) Micah Richards

Micah Richards arrived at Aston Villa in 2015 with a wealth of Premier League experience, having already made 245 appearances for Manchester City and scored 10 goals.

Once regarded as one of the brightest young talents in English football, Richards had shown enough early in his career to suggest that he could develop into a top-level defender.

However, a succession of injuries severely disrupted his career, and Villa ultimately felt the consequences as they took a chance on him despite his fitness problems.

Richards joined the Midlands club on a free transfer but reportedly commanded significant wages, and he managed only 31 appearances, scoring twice, as Villa were relegated to the Championship.

His injury problems continued to take their toll, eventually forcing Richards into an early retirement from professional football and making his spell at Villa one to forget.

2) Ross McCormack

Ross McCormack had been one of the Championship's most prolific strikers at Fulham, which prompted Aston Villa to take a chance on the Scottish forward.

The former Leeds United striker had scored 42 goals in 100 appearances for Fulham before moving to Villa, but his spell in the Midlands quickly turned into a complete disaster.

McCormack managed just three goals in 24 appearances across three seasons, while he was sent out on loan to four different clubs during a miserable stint at Villa Park.

His time at the club was further blighted by missed training sessions, fitness concerns and a series of off-field controversies, most famously the bizarre ‘broken gate' excuse.

A proven Championship goalscorer before arriving at Villa, McCormack simply never settled at the club, leaving Villa to pick up the pieces from one of their most ill-fated signings.

1) Aston Villa's worst Premier League signing of all time: Bosko Balaban

Eric Djemba-Djemba, Sasa Curcic, Joleon Lescott and Charles N'Zogbia all have claims to being among Aston Villa's biggest Premier League flops, but Bosko Balaban's spell at the club is arguably in a league of its own.

Villa paid £5.8m to sign the Croatian striker from Dinamo Zagreb, but he made just nine appearances during his two-and-a-half years at Villa Park, with seven of those coming from the bench.

Balaban was eventually released from his contract and returned to Croatia, joining Club Brugge on a free transfer after a miserable spell in England.

Speaking in 2019, Balaban defended himself by arguing that clubs should be the ones embarrassed when they spend big on players without giving them a genuine opportunity to prove themselves.

Whatever the reasons behind his lack of playing time, Balaban failed to convince any of the managers who worked with him at Villa, leaving behind one of the most forgettable spells in the club's Premier League history.