Cast your minds back to January 29th 2018 Aston Villa supporters, as it was the day of a notable player departure from Villa Park. 

Villa announced that Tommy Elphick had left the club to join Reading on loan until the end of the season in a surprise move for the former Bournemouth defender.

Elphick's departure was met with a frustrated reaction from Aston Villa supporters on social media.

Elphick was limited to just four appearances for Reading after he made the loan move to Berkshire, in a spell that was blighted by injuries.

But in the long-term, this did prove to be a good move for Aston Villa at the time, as Elphick has since come back into the starting XI for Villa, and has played his part in their play-off push this season.

The 31-year-old has made 24 appearances this season for the promotion chasing side, and is a crucial member of Dean Smith's squad going forward for the remainder of this year's campaign.

His experience will be needed in a relatively young Aston Villa defence, and the likes of Kortney Hause and Axel Tuanzebe could certainly further their development playing alongside Elphick.

So, even though his loan move might have been a strange decision by Villa at the time, they did find Elphick more minutes than he would have been getting at Villa Park.

This decision has ultimately paid off as Elphick is now leading from the front for Dean Smith's side and will be a crucial member of the promotion chasing side as we head into the second-half of the season.