One of the strangest Villa signings is certainly Premier League flop Eric Djemba-Djemba, who joined from Manchester United for £1.5M in January 2005. In short, Aston Villas acquisition of the Cameroon international made little sense as he was coming off the back of a woeful spell with the Red Devils, which has gone on to be classed as one of the Premier League's biggest jokes. Unsurprisingly, the midfielders time at Villa Park didnt go too well either as he made less than a dozen league appearances before being released by the club. Why Aston Villa chose to sign him at all remains unconfirmed - though perhaps it has something to do with the fact that people continue to say Alex Ferguson is never wrong - but hes not the first strange signing the side have made, nor will he be the last. Eric Djemba-Djembas career then spiralled out of control, with spells at Qatar SC, Odense Boldklub, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Partizan and mostly recently at St. Mirren, where he proved he hasn't exactly matured like a fine wine. His off-the-ball activities matched that of his fledging career with the Cameroonian international declaring bankruptcy in 2008 and enduring a marriage meltdown that led to a well-publicised divorce.
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
