2008–09 Aston Villa F.C. season

Squad at end of season

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 Brad Friedel 2 DF Luke Young 3 DF Wilfred Bouma 4 MF Steve Sidwell 6 MF Gareth Barry (vice-captain) 7 MF Ashley Young 8 MF James Milner 9 FW Marlon Harewood 10 FW John Carew 11 FW Gabriel Agbonlahor 13 GK Stuart Taylor 14 FW Nathan Delfouneso

No. Position Player 15 DF Curtis Davies 16 DF Zat Knight 17 MF Moustapha Salifou 18 FW Emile Heskey 19 MF Stiliyan Petrov 20 MF Nigel Reo-Coker 21 DF Nicky Shorey 22 GK Brad Guzan 24 DF Carlos Cuéllar 26 MF Craig Gardner 27 MF Isaiah Osbourne 45 MF Marc Albrighton 46 MF Barry Bannan

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

No. Position Player 5 DF Martin Laursen (captain; retired) 9 FW Marlon Harewood (on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers) 18 MF Wayne Routledge (to Queens Park Rangers) 27 MF Isaiah Osbourne (on loan to Nottingham Forest)

No. Position Player 28 MF Shaun Maloney (to Celtic) 29 DF Stephen O'Halloran (on loan to Swansea City) 46 MF Barry Bannan (on loan to Derby County)

The following players made most of their appearances for the reserve team this season, and did not appear for the first team.

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

No. Position Player 29 DF Stephen O'Halloran 43 DF Eric Lichaj 47 DF Ciaran Clark 48 DF Nathan Baker 49 MF Chris Herd

No. Position Player 51 DF Shane Lowry GK Elliot Parish MF Zoltán Stieber FW Sam Williams FW Tobias Mikaelsson (on trial to BK Häcken)

The following players made most of their appearances for the youth team this season, 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 GK Conor Devlin (on loan from Manchester United) GK Thomas Dau GK Benjamin Siegrist GK Aldi Haxhia (on loan from Chelsea) DF Durrell Berry DF Daniel Bradley DF Ellis Deeney DF Ben Love DF Matthew Roome DF Sam Simmonds DF Tomos Roberts

No. Position Player DF Derrick Williams[notes 1] MF Richard Blythe MF Jack Dyer MF Jason Lampkin MF Dominik Hofbauer MF András Stieber FW Ethan Moore FW Kofi Poyser FW Ryan Simmonds FW James Collins[notes 2] FW Andreas Weimann

The following players did not appear for any squad this season.

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

No. Position Player GK Calum Barrett GK Matt Coton GK David Bevan (on loan to Tamworth) DF James Clifton DF Jordan Collins DF Calum Flanagan DF Fred Holtom DF Richard Bryan[notes 3] DF Arsenio Halfhuid

No. Position Player MF Emmitt Delfouneso MF Harry Forrester MF Gary Gardner MF William Grocott MF Ebby Nelson-Addy MF Charlie Ward FW Adam McGurk FW Umit Eminoglu[notes 4] Template:Country data Chapman

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

No. Position Player MF Alex Witham

No. Position Player MF Reece Caira (on trial from Blacktown City)

Defender Curtis Davies signed a permanent deal at Aston Villa after a loan spell.[2][3] English midfielder Steve Sidwell joined from Chelsea on 10 July 2008.[4] On 26 July 2008, former USA shot-stopper Brad Friedel signed from Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee, thought to be £2million. On 7 August 2008 Aston Villa completed the signing of Nicky Shorey on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Also on 7 August 2008, Aston Villa completed the signing of Luke Young in a deal that could reach £6 million, on a three-year contract. On 12 August 2008, Aston Villa signed Carlos Cuéllar in a deal worth £7.8 million on a four-year contract. Villa's offer had triggered a release clause in Cuéllar's contract with Rangers.

Luke Moore made his loan move to West Bromwich Albion a permanent deal[5][6] Defender Olof Mellberg left the club to sign for Italian giants Juventus after seven years at Aston Villa.[7] Thomas Sørensen was also released at the end of his contract after 5 years of service, Stoke City eventually signed the Denmark international on a free transfer. Twins Damian and Yago Bellon left Villa after 2 years with the club, as Damian signed for FC Vaduz in Liechtenstein, whilst Yago joined Swiss side FC St. Gallen. Elsewhere, Irish youngster Danny Earls joined American USL team Rochester Rhinos, and defender Erik Lund returned home to join IFK Göteborg in Sweden. Lund was the only released youngster who played for the first-team during his time with the club, coming on as a substitute in a pre-season victory over Walsall in August 2007. Shaun Maloney was the last to leave the club in the summer transfer window, returning to Celtic after a frustrating spell under Martin O'Neill.

In

3 July 2008	DF	Curtis Davies	West Bromwich Albion	Undisclosed
10 July 2008	MF	Steve Sidwell	Chelsea	£5,000,000
26 July 2008	GK	Brad Friedel	Blackburn Rovers	Undisclosed
1 August 2008	GK	Brad Guzan	Chivas USA	£600,000
7 August 2008	DF	Nicky Shorey	Reading	Undisclosed
7 August 2008	DF	Luke Young	Middlesbrough	£6,000,000
12 August 2008	DF	Carlos Cuéllar	Rangers	£7,800,000
29 August 2008	MF	James Milner	Newcastle United	£12,000,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
28 May 2008	FW	Luke Moore	West Bromwich Albion	£3,000,000
29 May 2008	MF	Patrik Berger	Sparta Prague	Free
1 July 2008	DF	Olof Mellberg	Juventus	Free
1 July 2008	GK	Thomas Sørensen	Stoke City	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Yagó Bellón	St. Gallen	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Damian Bellón	FC Vaduz	Free
1 July 2008	DF	Erik Lund	IFK Gothenburg	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Danny Earls	Rochester Rhinos	Free
22 August 2008	FW	Shaun Maloney	Celtic	Undisclosed

On 2 January 2009, Wayne Routledge signed a ​3 ¹⁄₂-year deal with Queens Park Rangers, following a loan spell at fellow Championship club Cardiff City. Villa confirmed their first signing of the window four days later, in the form of 17-year-old Dutch defender Arsenio Halfhuid from SBV Excelsior, who signed for an undisclosed fee. On 23 January 2009, Emile Heskey followed, signing for £3.5 million from Wigan Athletic. Young winger Zoltán Stieber was the final player to leave Villa Park during January, as he signed for TuS Koblenz for an undisclosed fee, after failing to break into the first-team. Swiss U17 goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist also signed from FC Basel during this month.

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
7 January 2009	DF	Arsenio Halfhuid	Excelsior	Undisclosed[8]
15 January 2009	GK	Benjamin Siegrist	FC Basel	Undisclosed
23 January 2009	FW	Emile Heskey	Wigan Athletic	£3,500,000[9]

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
2 January 2009	MF	Wayne Routledge	Queens Park Rangers	Undisclosed
29 January 2009	MF	Zoltán Stieber	TuS Koblenz	Free

• Premier League: Sixth
• League Cup: Third Round (Knocked out by Q.P.R.)
• FA Cup: Fifth Round (Knocked out by Everton)
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: Joint-winner, qualified for UEFA Cup
• UEFA Cup: Round of 32 (Knocked out by CSKA Moscow)

Updated to match played 12 June 2008
Source: Competitions

No.	Pos.	Nationality	Player	Apps	Goals	Assists	YC	RC	Total Apps	Total Goals
1	GK	United States	Brad Friedel	46	0	0	1	1	46	0
2	DF	England	Luke Young	43	1	0	7	0	43	1
3	DF	Netherlands	Wilfred Bouma	2	0	0	0	0	90	1
4	MF	England	Steve Sidwell	25	4	1	6	1	25	4
5	DF	Denmark	Martin Laursen	24	4	2	1	0	91	11
6	MF	England	Gareth Barry	48	8	9	10	0	440	52
7	MF	England	Ashley Young	48	9	15	8	1	100	19
8	MF	England	James Milner	43	6	8	7	0	79	9
9	FW	England	Marlon Harewood	15	1	3	1	0	40	7
10	FW	Norway	John Carew	34	15	4	3	0	78	31
11	FW	England	Gabriel Agbonlahor	48	13	10	4	0	139	35
13	GK	England	Stuart Taylor	2	0	0	0	0	17	0
14	FW	England	Nathan Delfouneso	13	3	0	1	0	13	3
15	DF	England	Curtis Davies	45	1	1	3	0	59	2
16	DF	England	Zat Knight	26	1	0	1	0	54	2
17	MF	Togo	Moustapha Salifou	9	0	1	0	0	13	0
18	FW	England	Emile Heskey	14	2	0	0	0	14	2
19	MF	Bulgaria	Stiliyan Petrov	47	2	4	9	0	112	5
20	MF	England	Nigel Reo-Coker	36	2	1	4	0	75	3
21	DF	England	Nicky Shorey	33	0	2	2	0	33	0
22	GK	United States	Brad Guzan	8	0	0	1	0	8	0
24	DF	Spain	Carlos Cuéllar	36	0	0	4	0	36	0
26	MF	England	Craig Gardner	30	1	2	4	0	77	6
27	MF	England	Isaiah Osbourne	6	0	0	1	0	29	0
29	DF	Republic of Ireland	Stephen O'Halloran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	DF	United States	Eric Lichaj	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	MF	England	Marc Albrighton	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
46	MF	Scotland	Barry Bannan	2	0	0	1	0	2	0
47	DF	England	Ciaran Clark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
48	DF	England	Nathan Baker	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
49	MF	Australia	Chris Herd	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
51	MF	Ireland	Shane Lowry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Last Update: End of season
• Data includes all competitive competitions

No.	Pos.	Nationality	Player	Reserve Apps	Reserve Goals	Academy Apps	Academy Goals	Total Apps	Total Goals
45	MF	England	Marc Albrighton	10	2	2	0	12	2
48	DF	England	Nathan Baker	4	0	12	0	16	0
46	MF	Scotland	Barry Bannan	11	3	4	0	15	3
–	FW	England	Durrell Berry	0	0	9	2	9	2
–	MF	England	Richard Blythe	1	0	16	1	17	1
–	MF	England	Daniel Bradley	0	0	6	1	6	1
47	DF	England	Ciaran Clark	12	1	9	1	21	2
–	FW	England	James Collins	10	1	22	24	32	25
–	GK	Austria	Thomas Dau	0	0	14	0	14	0
14	FW	England	Nathan Delfouneso	9	3	1	0	10	3
*	GK	Northern Ireland	Conor Devlin	0	0	1	0	1	0
–	MF	England	Jack Dyer	1	0	13	0	14	0
–	DF	England	Calum Flanagan	1	0	17	0	18	0
41	MF	England	Harry Forrester	3	0	18	5	21	5
–	MF	England	Gary Gardner	2	1	11	2	13	3
–	MF	England	Will Grocott	1	0	18	4	19	4
–	DF	Netherlands	Arsenio Halfhuid	0	0	5	0	5	0
*	GK	Kosovo	Aldi Haxhia	0	0	1	0	1	0
49	MF	Australia	Chris Herd	7	1	0	0	7	1
42	MF	Austria	Dominik Hofbauer	6	1	17	3	23	4
–	MF	England	Jonathan Hogg	5	3	0	0	5	3
–	MF	England	Jason Lampkin	0	0	8	0	8	0
43	DF	United States	Eric Lichaj	10	1	0	0	10	1
–	MF	England	Ben Love	0	0	5	0	5	0
51	DF	Republic of Ireland	Shane Lowry	8	1	0	0	8	1
–	FW	Sweden	Tobias Mikaelsson	3	0	0	0	3	0
–	FW	England	Ethan Moore	0	0	1	1	1	1
29	DF	Republic of Ireland	Stephen O'Halloran	2	0	0	0	2	0
53	GK	England	Elliott Parish	9	0	3	0	12	0
–	FW	England	Kofi Poyser	0	0	13	4	13	4
–	DF	Wales	Tomos Roberts	0	0	12	0	12	0
–	DF	England	Matthew Roome	5	0	14	0	19	0
–	GK	Switzerland	Benjamin Siegrist	0	0	4	0	4	0
–	MF	England	Ryan Simmonds	0	0	13	0	13	0
–	DF	England	Sam Simmonds	1	0	6	0	7	0
–	MF	Hungary	András Stieber	0	0	11	4	11	4
*	MF	Hungary	Zoltán Stieber	8	2	0	0	8	2
–	FW	Austria	Andreas Weimann	10	2	18	6	28	8
–	DF	Republic of Ireland	Derrick Williams	0	0	1	0	1	0
–	FW	England	Sam Williams	4	0	0	0	4	0

• Last Update: 25 March 2009
• Data includes all competitions
• Zoltán Stieber signed for TuS Koblenz on 29 January 2009. Conor Devlin and Aldi Haxhia were signed on emergency short-term loan deals. Both returned to Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.