Aston Villa had a lucky escape over Andre Green exit | OneFootball

Aston Villa were involved in one of the biggest transfer deals that the Premier League has ever seen during the previous summer transfer window when Jack Grealish made the move to Manchester City for a British record fee of £100m.

Understandably, not every player that leaves the Midlands club gets as much coverage as the former Villa captain got.

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One player that left the club in recent years in a much more low-key affair that has gone under the radar is Andre Green, who was released as a free agent back in the 2020 summer transfer window.

As a product of Villa’s youth academy, the winger racked up 89 appearances across their U18, U23 and senior teams, scoring nine goals and providing nine assists along the way as well as having loan spells with Portsmouth, Preston North End and Charlton Athletic.

Described as a player that has “got ridiculous pace and goes past people like [Cristiano] Ronaldo used to,” by former Villa manager Tim Sherwood, the attacker ultimately never got his senior career at the club going.

A few months after leaving the Villans, Green joined Sheffield Wednesday in the 2021 January transfer window, only to leave in the summer after making just 15 appearances with no goals to his name.

Moving on from the Yorkshire club, the 23-year-old joined Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava in the summer, where he has made 26 appearances across all competitions, scoring ten goals and providing five assists in the process.

While it took him a fair amount of time to do so, it seems as though the Englishman has finally found his feet in Slovakia after failing to make a mark on British shores.

Were Villa right to release Andre Green?

Taking into account how little he offered the club he started his career at in their first team, it’s safe to say that Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris had a lucky escape and were right to let him go when they did, as he would have been nothing but a drain on the club’s finances if they kept loaning him out for more unsuccessful spells away from Villa Park.

Moving forward, while the former youth prospect is seemingly having a good time at his current club, it seems unlikely that he will be making a return to the Midlands club in the future.