10 Players Who Probably Regret Joining Aston Villa

Very few people had heard of Sasa Curcic before he became a fans favourite at Bolton Wanderers and when Aston Villa paid £4m for his signature in 1996, supporters of the West Midlands club had hoped that he would have the same impact in their team.

However, within five months of his transfer, he was demanding an exit and had labelled his move as "the biggest mistake in his life" - not the words anyone associated with Villa wanted to hear.

That said, his outburst did not come as too much of a surprise. He struggled to get on with his manager Brian Little throughout his time at the club and tensions only heightened when he chose to speak out about his unhappiness at Villa Park.

Curcic spent much of his two years disappointed with where he was being deployed by Little with the central-midfield player feeling he was being restricted in the middle of the park rather than being allowed to play in his preferred free-role position.

That was evident in his return of one goal in his 23 starts and 12 substitute appearances for the club and he would eventually sign for Crystal Palace for a cut-price fee of £1m in March 1998.