2007–08 Aston Villa F.C. season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  NED Wilfred Bouma 4 DF  SWE Olof Mellberg 5 DF  DEN Martin Laursen 6 MF  ENG Gareth Barry 7 MF  ENG Ashley Young 8 FW  ENG Luke Moore 9 FW  ENG Marlon Harewood 10 FW  NOR John Carew 11 FW  ENG Gabriel Agbonlahor 13 GK  ENG Stuart Taylor 15 DF  ENG Curtis Davies (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 DF  ENG Zat Knight 17 MF  TOG Moustapha Salifou 18 MF  ENG Wayne Routledge 19 MF  BUL Stilyan Petrov 20 MF  ENG Nigel Reo-Coker 22 GK  ENG Scott Carson (on loan from Liverpool) 23 MF  CZE Patrik Berger 26 MF  ENG Craig Gardner 27 MF  ENG Isaiah Osbourne 28 MF  SCO Shaun Maloney

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  ENG Gary Cahill (to Bolton Wanderers)

The following players made most of their appearances playing for the reserves, but may have also appeared for the youth team.[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  DEN Thomas Sørensen 29 DF  EIR Stephen O'Halloran — DF  SWE Erik Lund — DF  IRL Shane Lowry[notes 1] — MF  ENG Jonathan Hogg

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Sam Williams — MF   SUI Yagó Bellón — MF  HUN Zoltán Stieber (on loan Yeovil Town) — FW  SWE Tobias Mikaelsson (on loan to Port Vale)

The following players made most of their appearances playing for the youth team, but may have also appeared for the reserves.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  ENG Nathan Delfouneso — GK  ENG Elliot Parish — GK  IRL David Bevan — GK  AUT Thomas Dau — DF  ENG Nathan Baker — DF  ENG Durrell Berry — DF  ENG Daniel Bradley — DF  ENG Steven Clancy (on trial to Crewe Alexandra) — DF  ENG Ciaran Clark[notes 2] — DF  ENG Calum Flanagan — DF  ENG Matthew Roome — DF  ENG Sam Simmonds — DF  IRL Danny Earls — DF  USA Eric Lichaj

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Marc Albrighton — MF  ENG Harry Forrester — MF  ENG William Grocott — MF  ENG Jason Lampkin — MF  SCO Barry Bannan — MF  AUT Dominik Hofbauer — MF   SUI Damian Bellón — MF  AUS Chris Herd (on loan to Port Vale and Wycombe Wanderers) — FW  ENG Kofi Poyser — FW  ENG Ryan Simmonds — FW  IRL James Collins[notes 3] — FW  AUT Andreas Weimann — DF   Will Ricketts —   Aaron Griffiths (on trial to Coventry City)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Deale Chamberlain — GK  IRL Lee Boyle (contract cancelled) — GK  FRA Steve Mandanda (on trial from Le Havre) — DF  ENG Scott Bridges (to Banbury United) — DF  ENG James Clifton — DF  ENG Jordan Collins — DF  ENG Ben Love — DF  WAL Tomos Roberts — DF  IRL Mark Power

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  CIV Arsène Menessou (on trial from Le Havre) — MF  ENG Richard Blythe — MF  ENG Jack Dyer — MF  ENG Gary Gardner — MF  ENG Charlie Ward — MF  HUN András Stieber — FW  ENG Ethan Moore — FW  NIR Adam McGurk —   Joseph Jackman

Following the transfer of prolific striker Juan Pablo Ángel to New York Red Bulls in April, several Villa first-teamers followed the Colombian out of the door in the summer of 2007. Gavin McCann joined Bolton Wanderers in £1 million deal on 12 June, then a fortnight later, versatile defender Aaron Hughes left for Fulham, also in a £1 million deal. McCann was joined by Jlloyd Samuel – who had spent much of the previous season on the bench for the Midlanders – at Bolton, signing on a free transfer when his contract expired on 1 July. However, the two most surprising deals occurred with two academy players, in Steven Davis and Liam Ridgewell. Davis – who had won Player of the Year for the club in the 2005–06 season – signed for Fulham on 5 July for an undisclosed fee. Liam Ridgewell made the trip across the city to Birmingham City on 3 August, in a £2 million move. Other moves saw midfielder Lee Hendrie end his 14-year association with the club in a free transfer to Sheffield United, Phil Bardsley returned to Manchester United after a 13-game loan stint at the club, whilst Stephen Henderson, Bobby Olejnik, Mark Delaney, Scott Bridges and Eric Djemba-Djemba all left Villa Park.

Villa clinched their first transfer on 5 July with the £8.5 million signing of midfield battler Nigel Reo-Coker from West Ham United. 11 days later, Marlon Harewood also moved from Upton Park, for an undisclosed fee. Scott Carson was the next to arrive on 10 August, in a loan switch from Liverpool (although some media sources claim a fee of £2 million up front was agreed), before defenders Zat Knight and Curtis Davies both signed on 29 and 31 August respectively. Knight signed for his hometown club for a fee of £3.5 million from Fulham, whilst Davies signed on a season-long loan from local rivals West Bromwich Albion. Other deals saw Austrian youngsters Andreas Weimann and Dominik Hofbauer sign, as well as Eric Lichaj, Harry Forrester and Togolese international Moustapha Salifou.

After failing to find a suitor in the summer, Gary Cahill was allowed to leave on a loan deal to Sheffield United in September; however, he joined Bolton on a permanent deal on 30 January for an undisclosed fee. Youngsters Chris Herd, Tobias Mikaelsson, Stephen O'Halloran and Zoltán Stieber were all farmed out on loan. The biggest news, however, was that Swedish international defender Olof Mellberg, was to join Italian giants Juventus on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Unlike the summer transfer window, Aston Villa were extremely quiet in the winter equivalent, purchasing just one senior player in Wayne Routledge (£1.25 million) from Tottenham Hotspur. He was also followed by youngsters Thomas Dau and Lance Heslop.

As of end of season[3]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premiership		League Cup		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
13	GK		Stuart Taylor	6	0	3+1	0	2	0	0	0
22	GK		Scott Carson	36	0	35	0	0	0	1	0
Defenders
3	DF		Wilfred Bouma	39	1	38	1	0	0	1	0
4	DF		Olof Mellberg	37	2	33+1	2	2	0	1	0
5	DF		Martin Laursen	39	6	38	6	0	0	1	0
15	DF		Curtis Davies	14	1	9+3	1	1	0	1	0
16	DF		Zat Knight	28	1	25+2	1	1	0	0	0
26	DF		Craig Gardner	25	3	15+8	3	1	0	0+1	0
Midfielders
6	MF		Gareth Barry	40	9	37	9	2	0	1	0
7	MF		Ashley Young	39	9	37	9	0+1	0	1	0
17	MF		Moustapha Salifou	4	0	0+4	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF		Wayne Routledge	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF		Stilian Petrov	31	1	22+6	1	1+1	0	1	0
20	MF		Nigel Reo-Coker	39	1	36	0	2	1	1	0
23	MF		Patrik Berger	9	0	0+8	0	0+1	0	0	0
27	MF		Isaiah Osbourne	10	0	1+7	0	2	0	0	0
28	MF		Shaun Maloney	25	6	11+11	4	2	2	0+1	0
Forwards
8	FW		Luke Moore	18	2	8+7	1	1+1	1	0+1	0
9	FW		Marlon Harewood	25	6	1+22	5	2	1	0	0
10	FW		John Carew	33	13	32	13	0	0	1	0
11	FW		Gabriel Agbonlahor	40	11	37	11	2	0	1	0
Players transferred or loaned out during the season
21	DF		Gary Cahill	2	0	0+1	0	1	0	0	0

• John Carew – 13
• Gabriel Agbonlahor – 11
• Ashley Young – 9
• Gareth Barry – 8
• Martin Laursen – 6