2007–08 Aston Villa F.C. season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	DF	ENG	Zat Knight
17	MF	TOG	Moustapha Salifou
18	MF	ENG	Wayne Routledge
19	MF	BUL	Stilyan Petrov
20	MF	ENG	Nigel Reo-Coker
22	GK	ENG	Scott Carson (on loan from Liverpool)
23	MF	CZE	Patrik Berger
26	MF	ENG	Craig Gardner
27	MF	ENG	Isaiah Osbourne
28	MF	SCO	Shaun Maloney

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

The following players made most of their appearances playing for the reserves, but may have also appeared for the youth team.^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Sam Williams
—	MF	SUI	Yagó Bellón
—	MF	HUN	Zoltán Stieber (on loan Yeovil Town)
—	FW	SWE	Tobias Mikaelsson (on loan to Port Vale)

The following players made most of their appearances playing for the youth team, but may have also appeared for the reserves.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Marc Albrighton
—	MF	ENG	Harry Forrester
—	MF	ENG	William Grocott
—	MF	ENG	Jason Lampkin
—	MF	SCO	Barry Bannan
—	MF	AUT	Dominik Hofbauer
—	MF	SUI	Damian Bellón
—	MF	AUS	Chris Herd (on loan to Port Vale and Wycombe Wanderers)
—	FW	ENG	Kofi Poyser
—	FW	ENG	Ryan Simmonds
—	FW	IRL	James Collins[notes 3]
—	FW	AUT	Andreas Weimann
—	DF		Will Ricketts
—			Aaron Griffiths (on trial to Coventry City)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	CIV	Arsène Menessou (on trial from Le Havre)
—	MF	ENG	Richard Blythe
—	MF	ENG	Jack Dyer
—	MF	ENG	Gary Gardner
—	MF	ENG	Charlie Ward
—	MF	HUN	András Stieber
—	FW	ENG	Ethan Moore
—	FW	NIR	Adam McGurk
—			Joseph Jackman

The 2007–08 season saw the unveiling of Nike as the club's kit producer, taking over from Danish firm Hummel. The deal – worth £25 million over 5 seasons – was announced on 7 February 2007, with all home, away and goalkeeper kits being unveiled on 17 July 2007. The home shirt was made available to purchase on 8 August 2007, and the away on 4 October 2007. A charcoal and white third shirt was unveiled and released in November 2007. The home shirt followed the club's usual template of a claret body and blue arms, with a white "AVFC" banner and printed lion featured on the hem and back of the collar respectively. The away shirt featured a white body, with blue pinstripes – in a similar style to that of the 1982 European Cup winners' jersey (which featured claret stripes in place of the modern blue alternative). The third shirt was charcoal with white piping. The home goalkeeper shirt featured horizontal stripes, with different alternating shades of grey. The away replicated this style, with different shades of yellow.

Gibraltar-based betting firm 32Red continued their sponsorship of the club, however with the contract in its last year, Villa are expected to announce another deal for the forthcoming 2008–09 season.

A new crest was revealed on 2 May 2007 to be introduced for the 2007–08 season. The new crest included a star to represent the European Cup win in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's "lion rampant." The traditional motto "Prepared" remained in the crest, and the name "Aston Villa" was shortened to AVFC, FC having been omitted from the previous crest. Randy Lerner petitioned fans to help with the design of the new crest.

Following the transfer of prolific striker Juan Pablo Ángel to New York Red Bulls in April, several Villa first-teamers followed the Colombian out of the door in the summer of 2007. Gavin McCann joined Bolton Wanderers in £1 million deal on 12 June, then a fortnight later, versatile defender Aaron Hughes left for Fulham, also in a £1 million deal. McCann was joined by Jlloyd Samuel – who had spent much of the previous season on the bench for the Midlanders – at Bolton, signing on a free transfer when his contract expired on 1 July. However, the two most surprising deals occurred with two academy players, in Steven Davis and Liam Ridgewell. Davis – who had won Player of the Year for the club in the 2005–06 season – signed for Fulham on 5 July for an undisclosed fee. Liam Ridgewell made the trip across the city to Birmingham City on 3 August, in a £2 million move. Other moves saw midfielder Lee Hendrie end his 14-year association with the club in a free transfer to Sheffield United, Phil Bardsley returned to Manchester United after a 13-game loan stint at the club, whilst Stephen Henderson, Bobby Olejnik, Mark Delaney, Scott Bridges and Eric Djemba-Djemba all left Villa Park.

Villa clinched their first transfer on 5 July with the £8.5 million signing of midfield battler Nigel Reo-Coker from West Ham United. 11 days later, Marlon Harewood also moved from Upton Park, for an undisclosed fee. Scott Carson was the next to arrive on 10 August, in a loan switch from Liverpool (although some media sources claim a fee of £2 million up front was agreed), before defenders Zat Knight and Curtis Davies both signed on 29 and 31 August respectively. Knight signed for his hometown club for a fee of £3.5 million from Fulham, whilst Davies signed on a season-long loan from local rivals West Bromwich Albion. Other deals saw Austrian youngsters Andreas Weimann and Dominik Hofbauer sign, as well as Eric Lichaj, Harry Forrester and Togolese international Moustapha Salifou.

After failing to find a suitor in the summer, Gary Cahill was allowed to leave on a loan deal to Sheffield United in September; however, he joined Bolton on a permanent deal on 30 January for an undisclosed fee. Youngsters Chris Herd, Tobias Mikaelsson, Stephen O'Halloran and Zoltán Stieber were all farmed out on loan. The biggest news, however, was that Swedish international defender Olof Mellberg, was to join Italian giants Juventus on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Unlike the summer transfer window, Aston Villa were extremely quiet in the winter equivalent, purchasing just one senior player in Wayne Routledge (£1.25 million) from Tottenham Hotspur. He was also followed by youngsters Thomas Dau and Lance Heslop.

Date	Player	Previous Club	Fee	Ref
June 2007	Andreas Weimann	Rapid Wien	Undisclosed
July 2007	Harry Forrester	Watford	Undisclosed
July 2007	Eric Lichaj	University of North Carolina	Undisclosed
5 July 2007	Nigel Reo-Coker	West Ham United	£8,500,000
17 July 2007	Marlon Harewood	West Ham United	Undisclosed
29 August 2007	Zat Knight	Fulham	£3,500,000
31 August 2007	Moustapha Salifou	FC Wil 1900	Undisclosed
4 December 2007	Thomas Dau	SV Schwechat Juniors	Undisclosed
December 2007	Lance Heslop	Auckland City	Undisclosed
30 January 2008	Wayne Routledge	Tottenham Hotspur	£1,250,000

Date	Player	Transfer to	Fee	Ref
12 June 2007	Gavin McCann	Bolton Wanderers	£1,000,000
27 June 2007	Aaron Hughes	Fulham	£1,000,000
1 July 2007	Stephen Henderson	Bristol City	Free
1 July 2007	Bobby Olejnik	Falkirk	Free
1 July 2007	Jlloyd Samuel	Bolton Wanderers	Free
5 July 2007	Steven Davis	Fulham	Undisclosed
19 July 2007	Lee Hendrie	Sheffield United	Free
3 August 2007	Liam Ridgewell	Birmingham City	£2,000,000
30 January 2008	Gary Cahill	Bolton Wanderers	Undisclosed

At the end of season awards dinner, Martin Laursen was announced as the Supporters' Player of the Year, whilst Gabriel Agbonlahor was the Supporter's and Player's Young Player of the Year.^[4]

As of end of season^[5]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premiership		League Cup		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
13	GK	ENG	Stuart Taylor	6	0	3+1	0	2	0	0	0
22	GK	ENG	Scott Carson	36	0	35	0	0	0	1	0
Defenders
3	DF	NED	Wilfred Bouma	39	1	38	1	0	0	1	0
4	DF	SWE	Olof Mellberg	37	2	33+1	2	2	0	1	0
5	DF	DEN	Martin Laursen	39	6	38	6	0	0	1	0
15	DF	ENG	Curtis Davies	14	1	9+3	1	1	0	1	0
16	DF	ENG	Zat Knight	28	1	25+2	1	1	0	0	0
26	DF	ENG	Craig Gardner	25	3	15+8	3	1	0	0+1	0
Midfielders
6	MF	ENG	Gareth Barry	40	9	37	9	2	0	1	0
7	MF	ENG	Ashley Young	39	9	37	9	0+1	0	1	0
17	MF	TOG	Moustapha Salifou	4	0	0+4	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF	ENG	Wayne Routledge	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF	BUL	Stilian Petrov	31	1	22+6	1	1+1	0	1	0
20	MF	ENG	Nigel Reo-Coker	39	1	36	0	2	1	1	0
23	MF	CZE	Patrik Berger	9	0	0+8	0	0+1	0	0	0
27	MF	ENG	Isaiah Osbourne	10	0	1+7	0	2	0	0	0
28	MF	SCO	Shaun Maloney	25	6	11+11	4	2	2	0+1	0
Forwards
8	FW	ENG	Luke Moore	18	2	8+7	1	1+1	1	0+1	0
9	FW	ENG	Marlon Harewood	25	6	1+22	5	2	1	0	0
10	FW	NOR	John Carew	33	13	32	13	0	0	1	0
11	FW	ENG	Gabriel Agbonlahor	40	11	37	11	2	0	1	0
Players transferred or loaned out during the season
21	DF	ENG	Gary Cahill	2	0	0+1	0	1	0	0	0

• John Carew – 13
• Gabriel Agbonlahor – 11
• Ashley Young – 9
• Gareth Barry – 8
• Martin Laursen – 6

• Aston Villa official website
• avfchistory.co.uk 2007–08 season