10 Former Aston Villa Players They Could Do With Now

2. Gary Cahill

Within a week of his first start for the club, Villa supporters should have realised they possessed something special within their ranks. With one sweet connection, their 20 year old centre-back had lashed in a bicycle kick against bitter cross-town rivals Birmingham City. Within two years, he would be flogged to Bolton Wanderers after just 30 appearances in two and a half seasons with the first-team. Gary Cahill had been at Aston Villa since he was 14 years old, having been snapped by scouts at the turn of the millennium. It is surely one of the club€™s great modern regrets that they failed to realise his true potential before allowing him to leave for Bolton in January 2008. He now forms the most formidable centre-back partnership in the country, with the double-act of he and John Terry at Stamford Bridge looking impenetrable at times. Within four months of moving to west London in 2012, he had bagged both the FA Cup and Champions League, before following that up with the Europa League the following season. With each passing weekend, it looks increasingly likely that he will soon be pocketing his first league winners€™ medal. He currently has 33 caps to his name and is one of the first names on the England team-sheet. His rise has been meteoric over the last three or four years, and with every plaudit he receives, and every medal he earns, members of the Villa board from six years ago might cry a little more into their bowls of cereal.