It has been a difficult few years for Aston Villa, who have struggled in the Premier League recently, before dropping out of the top-flight and failing to make a positive impact in the Sky Bet Championship.  

Villa’s long, successful history has seen a number of fine players grace the Villa Park turf, but in recent years, the club’s transfer business has left a lot to the imagination.

Steve Bruce finally appears to have found the right balance within his squad and things are looking up, but you don’t have to look too far into the past to find some players who have seriously disappointed at Villa Park.

Here at FLW, our writers take a look at some of Villa’s worst signings in recent years.

George Dagless

Jose Angel Crespo.

When it became apparent that Villa had signed Crespo in 2015 it certainly caught the eye. Unfortunately for them, though, it wasn't Hernan and that quickly became clear.

This Crespo played just a handful of games for the Villans before being moved on in another example of the club's recent poor transfer strategy.

Sam Rourke

Libor Kozak.

Lets be honest, this was a shambles of a signing.

The Czech Republic striker cost a few million, and his impact at Villa Park was virtually non-existent.

He was constantly sidelined with injury, and the rare times he did feature, he hardly set the world alight on the pitch.

Not good enough.

Chris Gallagher

Wow, there's so many to choose from.

Aaron Tshibola for £5m. Scott Hogan for £9m. Micah Richards will be picking up mega wages for doing nothing this season. However, even though there's many more you could name, I'd go for Ross McCormack at £12m.

Three goals in 20 appearances shows it didn't work for the ex-Leeds man and his time can be summed up after he missed training because of a faulty gate and was reportedly confronted by manager Steve Bruce.

An all-round disastrous signing.