Aston Villa have seen a turnaround in form since the arrival of Unai Emery, who took the reins from Steven Gerrard in October 2022.
The Spaniard fired the Villans from 16th in the Premier League table to 7th in the 2022/23 season, earning the club a spot in the Europa Conference League and a clear vision of the heights that hard work can take the squad.
While the former Arsenal boss deserves a lot of credit for the progression of the club, none of Villa’s growth today would be possible without the work of those before him who restored the Midlands side back to the top flight in the first place.
From Steve Bruce to Dean Smith, Villa spent three years in the Championship before being promoted in 2019, with a host of stars of those squads paving the way for further glory.
Smith’s promotion heroes are remembered fondly at Villa Park, as well as those before them under Bruce, with one name standing out as a previous talisman in the Midlands – Albert Adomah.
How long was Albert Adomah at Aston Villa?
While Tammy Abraham, Jack Grealish and most recently Ollie Watkins topped the scoring charts for Villa on the way to, and during, their Premier League return, a different player claimed the club’s golden boot prior to the big names.
Rewind to the 2017/18 campaign and winger Albert Adomah’s 14 Championship goals saw him end the season as the top scorer for Villa, during a term that ended in a bittersweet fashion as the Villans lost the play-off final to Fulham in May.
Adomah arrived at Villa Park from Middlesbrough the summer prior to his top goalscoring feat, and made his presence on the flank known from the off as he secured 11 assists and three goals in his debut Championship campaign.
It was then that the winger took it in his stride to be the main source of goals for Bruce’s squad, making a total of 22 goal contributions in 44 appearances in all competitions of the 2017/18 season, scoring 15 and assisting seven.
Once lauded as “superb” by journalist Lee Clarke, Adomah was a player that many were fond of at Villa for his hard work and ability to take control of games from the wide channels, however he hit his ceiling after ending the 2017/18 campaign as top scorer.
What happened to Albert Adomah?
The season after, the Ghanaian only managed to score four goals in the Championship, and was sold to Nottingham Forest as part of a free transfer in the summer of 2019.
At the City Ground, the wideman was unable to get close to replicating his heroics at Villa Park, netting just two goals in the Championship in his single season at Forest before he was sent on loan in January 2020 to Cardiff City.
After failing to score in South Wales, Adomah returned to his parent club to be sold to Queen's Park Rangers, where he continues to play today in the second tier.
Villa were the lucky ones with reference to Adomah’s rich scoring streak, as he has since failed to score anywhere near the 14 league goals he did that season, with him only getting on the scoresheet on six occasions since the 2020/21 campaign for QPR.
The 35-year-old certainly hit his prime in the Midlands, with Villa undoubtedly getting the best out of the forward who now has a market value of just £300k, as per Football Transfers.
From top scorer to a player unlikely to score, Adomah will look back fondly on his influential time at Villa Park as he continues to play out his career at Loftus Road.