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. Position Player 3 DF Wilfred Bouma 4 DF Olof Mellberg 5 DF Martin Laursen 6 MF Gareth Barry 7 MF Ashley Young 8 FW Luke Moore 9 FW Marlon Harewood 10 FW John Carew 11 FW Gabriel Agbonlahor 13 GK Stuart Taylor 15 DF Curtis Davies (on loan from West Bromwich Albion)

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

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

No. Position Player 21 MF 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. Position Player 1 GK Thomas Sørensen 29 DF Stephen O'Halloran DF Erik Lund DF Shane Lowry[notes 1] MF Jonathan Hogg

No. Position Player MF Sam Williams MF Yagó Bellón MF Zoltán Stieber (on loan Yeovil Town) FW 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. Position Player 14 FW Nathan Delfouneso GK Elliot Parish GK David Bevan GK Thomas Dau DF Nathan Baker DF Durrell Berry DF Daniel Bradley DF Steven Clancy (on trial to Crewe Alexandra) DF Ciaran Clark[notes 2] DF Calum Flanagan DF Matthew Roome DF Sam Simmonds DF Danny Earls DF Eric Lichaj

No. Position Player MF Marc Albrighton MF Harry Forrester MF William Grocott MF Jason Lampkin MF Barry Bannan MF Dominik Hofbauer MF Damian Bellón MF Chris Herd (on loan to Port Vale and Wycombe Wanderers) FW Kofi Poyser FW Ryan Simmonds FW James Collins[notes 3] FW Andreas Weimann Template:Country data DF Will Ricketts Template:Country data 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. Position Player GK Deale Chamberlain GK Lee Boyle (contract cancelled) GK Steve Mandanda (on trial from Le Havre) DF Scott Bridges (to Banbury United) DF James Clifton DF Jordan Collins DF Ben Love DF Tomos Roberts DF Mark Power

No. Position Player DF Arsène Menessou (on trial from Le Havre) MF Richard Blythe MF Jack Dyer MF Gary Gardner MF Charlie Ward MF András Stieber FW Ethan Moore FW Adam McGurk Template:Country data 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