There is a new and exciting era dawning at Aston Villa, with Unai Emery already making quite the impression at Villa Park.
The Spaniard is expected to bring in plenty of fresh faces in the January window, as he looks to make improvements to his squad for the second half of the Premier League season.
With so much speculation around at the moment, memories flood back of transfer windows from years gone by.
From bargains Fabian Delph, Christian Benteke and John McGinn to flops such as Joleon Lescott and Ross McCormack - Villa have had their fair share of good and bad deals.
There are also plenty of players who the Villans have targeted and came close to signing but didn’t. Some of these were rather big names, too. Here are 11 you may have forgotten.
1. Frank Lampard
The Lions threw everything at it to ensure they could sign the then-West Ham wonderkid Lampard, and even matched Chelsea’s £11 million bid. Lampard chose to stay in London, though. Perhaps one of the biggest misses of all, this.
2. Juninho
Brazilian midfielder Juninho was unhappy with his Atletico Madrid manager in 1999, and his agent Gianna Paladini revealed his client would be keen on a move to Villa. A deal fell through, though, and he was loaned to Middlesbrough.
3. Romelu Lukaku
Villa spoke to Chelsea about the possibility of signing Romelu Lukaku on loan in 2012, but he went to West Bromwich Albion instead. There was quite the silver lining, though, as Christian Benteke was brought to Villa Park in that window.
4. Tim Cahill
Former Villans head coach Graham Taylor revealed he nearly signed the then-Millwall midfielder Tim Cahill in 2002. “I tried to sign Cahill at Millwall but he did his cruciate ligaments and that was the end of that,” Taylor said.