Aston Villa have made a number of high-profile signings throughout their history, with Dwight Yorke, Juan Pablo Angel and Philippe Coutinho among the most famous names to have graced the turf at Villa Park.
Given their reputation and establishment as a consistent Premier League outfit, the Villans have attracted their fair share of renowned superstars from around the globe, but not every deal has been concluded.
Ahead of the summer transfer window, which will inevitably mean more rumours circulating online and a list of players linked with the club, BirminghamWorld has been looking back in time at moves that weren’t quite pulled off.
With that in mind, here are nine players who were on the verge of joining Villa but failed to put pen to paper - and the reasons the transfers never happened.
5. Andy Cole - 1993
Another claim from the Ellis autobiography was that an agreement was in place to sign Cole when he was at Bristol City. It was all done but Ellis needed the go-ahead from manager Ron Atkinson. Phone calls were made to the training ground, stadium, Atkinson’s home and even mobile, but he didn’t pick up. Newcastle United then swooped in and signed Cole under Villa’s noses. | Getty Images
6. Joao Felix - 2023
The most recent of these crazy transfer sagas, Villa were at one stage favourites to hand Felix a half-season loan move amid a torrid time at Atletico Madrid. This was when Villa were calling out for a winger in January, but eventually the links dropped off as he ended up at Chelsea. | Getty Images
7. Wesley Sneijder - 2009
One of the best midfielders in the world at the time, Martin O’Neill was a huge fan of Sneijder and publicly made it clear he wanted to sign him. Although it was totally unrealistic, Villa were genuinely favourites to get him at one stage when Inter Milan stalled with Real Madrid over the fee. | Getty Images
8. Abel Hernandez - 2016
It looked as if the Uruguayan would be making a huge £20 million to help Villa get promoted back to the Premier League, but the deal was cancelled when he asked for a rise to £100,000-a-week if promotion did occur. | Getty Images