The 11 Aston Villa prodigies who failed to live up to their potential

VaselineJuly 5, 2024

0 7 minutes read

The 11 Aston Villa prodigies who failed to live up to their potential

Over the years, more recently and further afield, Aston Villa have had “the next best things” in the academy ranks. Exciting children who have created waves with their gestures for the youth teams at Bodymoor Heath.

Some of these academy stars went on to make a big impact on the Villa first team, such as Gareth Barry and Gabby Agbonlahor, who both played hundreds of games for the club, scored goals, played in Europe and were Villa’s captain.

Others, including Gary Cahill and Marc Albrighton, were forced to leave the club to seek fame and fortune elsewhere, carving out fruitful careers and enjoying success at other clubs.

Then there are those that for one reason or another struggle to live up to their early hype or potential. Here are a few that fall into that final category.

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1 out of 10

At a time when Aston Villa were looking a force to be reckoned with under John Gregory, a young striker was also looking a force to be reckoned with.

His name was Richard Walker and when the curly-haired teenager scored in both of his two Premier League appearances at Villa Park, the Holte End was ready to usher in the new millennium with a new darling. Walker came off the bench to score in a 4-0 win over Watford and found the net again in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

Unfortunately, these were to be his only two goals in 10 senior appearances, and the boyhood Villa fan began his career in the lower leagues with Bristol Rovers, where he became a regular goalscorer and a fan favourite.

In an interview many years later, he chose “My debut and scoring for my boyhood team Aston Villa against Holte in the Premier League final” as his favorite moment of his career.

2 out of 10

Remember when we all thought it was going to be Happy Days for The Fonz? Unfortunately, it was not to be. Delfouneso burst onto the scene as a teenager and became Villa’s youngest player to appear in European competitions with a senior debut in the UEFA Cup.

He was 17 years and 195 days old for his remarkable cameo off the bench in August 2008 as Martin O’Neill’s men beat Hafnarfjordur 4-1 in Iceland. His first start and goal also came in the UEFA Cup in December 2008 in a 2-1 home win against Slovakian opponents Zilina.

In total, he made 14 starts, 36 substitute appearances and scored nine goals for Villa – which wasn’t too shabby when you consider the club were in the Premier League and Europe at the time.

But we expected much more from a player who rivaled the youth team goalscoring tally of Darius Vassell and Gabby Agbonlahor, who finished top scorer while an England under-16 side that contained Jack Wilshere, lifted the 2006 Victory Shield and hit a hat-trick on his U17 international debut.

3 out of 10

I thought he was destined for greatness, but as it turns out, he’s probably the second most famous Fenton behind that dog whose owner makes his nut when chasing deer.

Fenton burst onto the scene under Ron Atkinson and can hardly be excused for wasting talent when he has what many Villa players past and present would like – a winner’s medal. That 1994 Coca Cola Cup triumph over Manchester United at Wembley provided Fenton’s finest hour.

He was a wildcard selection from Big Ron as Villa won 3-1 to deny Alex Ferguson’s men the treble. It was a case of the mayor’s show from then on. Fenton scored three goals in 39 appearances, around half of them substitute cameos before spells with a number of clubs including West Bromwich Albion, Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City.

4 out of 10

If you had asked most observers in 2002 whether Stefan and Luke Moore or a lad called Wayne Rooney would go on and play for England, they would probably have told you “all three”.

The Moore brothers actually eclipsed Rooney in that year’s FA Youth Cup final as Villa beat Everton to lift the prize, but it was a false dawn for the Second City brothers. Older brother Stefan first flirted with the first team, scoring twice in 11 starts and 19 substitute appearances between 2002 and 2005.

When Stefan joined Queens Park Rangers in a fall from grace that eventually led to relegation, non-league football and then owning his own taxi firm, he paved the way for little Luke to to things.

Moore junior had a little more joy, scoring 15 times in 98 games (41 starts 57 substitutes), including a hat-trick against Middlesbrough, but he too suffered a disappointing defeat. Spells at Albion and Swansea were followed by a spell in Major League Soccer before he effectively hung up his boots in his early 30s.

By comparison, that Rooney kid did well, apparently.

5 out of 10

Seriously, the trainers at Bodymoor Heath were drooling over this kid. Those who watched him train had very high hopes.

After becoming one of the country’s top talents at the FA’s school of excellence Lilleshall, he became a trainee at Manchester United and then came to Villa via Walsall. It did not work. His Villa career amounted to four substitute appearances.

Making his debut with a 16-minute cameo in an Intertoto Cup defeat to Celta Vigo in August 2000, he had to wait until 2003 for three more short Premier League runs, totaling less than half an hour. Bournemouth, Wycombe, Torquay, Halesowen and Weymouth were the next ports of call.

When he left Villa to join the Cherries, initially on loan, their then boss Sean O’Driscoll said: “Stephen is very well regarded at Aston Villa and someone I’ve followed for a long time .

“He is extremely talented. He has tremendous ability and if he can replicate that in Division II, he will be a player to watch. He is a passing midfielder. He can spot a pass and he’s aggressive, even though he’s easy.”

6 out of 10

One minute he was giving us a welcome glimpse of his talents with some encouraging Premier League cameos, the next he was giving us an unwanted flash of his stuff during some drunken debauchery at the Cheltenham Festival.

For the purposes of this piece, let’s make Carruthers the poster boy for the NextGen series winners, who when they won the European Junior Cup in 2013, were hailed as the claret and blue answer to Manchester United’s Class of 92.

It did not happen. With the exception of golden boy Jack Grealish, the rest of them had to take their football record elsewhere. Carruthers, who captained NextGen, had a fleeting taste of first-team action at Villa under Alex McLeish in 2011-12 with brief spells against Liverpool, Manchester United and Albion.

He started his career with MK Dons (while the lads’ raucous day at Cheltenham took place there) before moving to Sheffield United and then Cambridge. While we singled out Carruthers, there were many others in that squad who we expected to do more, including Graham Burke, Mikey Drennan, Jordan Lyden and Riccardo Calder. Here’s what happened to that team.

7 out of 10

OK, so we’re going to highlight another one of them – Dan Crowley, who was the youngest member of Villa’s NextGen winning squad and won rave reviews during his time in the club’s academy.

The Coventry-born midfielder broke through to Villa’s youth team aged just 15, but a year later when he landed a move to Arsenal, expectation levels were really raised.

Unable to make a breakthrough with the Gunners, two loan spells in England with Barnsley and Oxford United were cut short, with respective managers Paul Heckingbottom and Michael Appleton unable to work with Crowley.

A more fruitful loan spell at Go Ahead Eagles followed before Crowley decided to quit Arsenal and move to Holland for good, impressing with Willem II in the Dutch top-flight Eredivisie.

He joined Villa’s fierce rivals Birmingham City at the time, saying: “The thing about me is that I have a strong personality. I’m a bit like Marmite. You either really like me or you don’t understand me.”

8 out of 10

Meet anyone who was following Gary Gardner’s rise through the academy age groups a decade ago and they would have been delighted by the midfield dynamo and future Villa captain. Sometimes football in the youth teams seemed too easy for him.

However, severe knee problems have slowed his upward trajectory just at a time when he looked set to break out and eclipse his older brother Craig’s success at Villa.

Craig had been a fringe player under Martin O’Neill and although he burned his clear and blue bridges when he moved down the road and proclaimed his undying love for the Blues, it didn’t matter because Gary was even better and good at Villa . Only it wasn’t. Ironically, Villa’s best moment was a goal against the Blues at St Andrew’s.

Making his debut in 2011-12, he went on to make 25 starts and 21 sub appearances for Villa, spread over around seven years, before joining his older brother to continue at their beloved Blues.

9 out of 10

Despite being just 16 at the time, Villa paid an initial £250,000 fee for Watford wonderkid Harry Forrester in 2007. It was big news and Forrester quickly began to repay his faith by helping the under-18s to Premier Academy League glory.

He was quickly moved into Villa’s second string and helped them to a third consecutive Reserve League South title in 2010. However, Forrester never made a first-team appearance and was released by Villa in 2011.

He has since spent time with Brentford, Doncaster and Rangers and had a loan spell at AFC Wimbledon. His most recent moves saw him move to Iranian side Tractor Sazi before being loaned to Machine Sazi and moving to US side Orange County SC of the USL Championship.

10 out of 10

There was more than a wave of excitement when Ron Atkinson added Nii Lamptey to his squad in the mid-1990s. Fool us some more because we believe the hype. Hi, if memory serves me correctly, as some kind of African Pele, Lamptey did not live up to his billing.

Arriving on loan from Anderlecht, the Ghanaian scored on his debut against Wigan in the League Cup and then twice again away – accompanied by acrobatic celebrations – but that was as good as it got.

Big Ron was sacked in November 1994, just months after Lamptey’s arrival, and by the time Lamptey was sent to Coventry the following summer, he had made just three starts and six substitute appearances.

he was a star player for PSV at the time but opted to sign a loan deal at Villa Park. Lamptey, however, failed to impress and made just one start in the Premier League before signing for Coventry for £150,000 a year later.

VaselineJuly 5, 2024

0 7 minutes read

Vaseline

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