Aston Villa have endured some turbulent seasons of late with the football club being relegated from the Premier League in 2016 for the first time before making two consecutive play-off final appearances, winning the second and surviving relegation from the top-flight on the final day of the 2019/20 campaign.

However, now the West Midlands club is a stable outfit under Steven Gerrard and it appears as though exciting times are ahead with the Villans learning from past transfer errors.

One recent colossal error was the signing of Rudy Gestede from Blackburn Rovers in 2015.

The former Benin international swapped Ewood Park for Villa Park for £7.6m ahead of the season that would eventually see Villa relegated.

Christian Benteke, who scored 49 goals in 101 appearances for Villa, had joined Liverpool that summer for £32.5m with one of the striker's replacements coming in the form of Gestede.

The then 27-year-old on £28k-per-week started his Villa tenure excellently, scoring a late winner on his debut against Bournemouth as well as a brace at Anfield against Liverpool that September.

However, the striker would go on to score just two more goals that season as the West Midlands outfit finished bottom of the league and was claimed to be "hiding" by Blackburn Rovers legend Alan Shearer.

Gestede went on to score four goals in the Championship the following season before returning to the Premier League when Middlesbrough signed him for £6m, 22% less than what Villa paid.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the now 33-year-old's career since leaving Villa Park suggests that it was a woeful decision to gamble on the Benininian.

Having been worth £6.3m when leaving Villa, the striker was worth just £2.7m within two years before being released by Middlesbrough in 2020 at a valuation of £720k.

Since November 2020, Gestede has played for three clubs abroad, Melbourne Victory in Australia, Panetolikos in Greece and is currently playing in Iran for Esteghlal.

Moreover, the veteran forward is now worth just £225k.

It could be argued that Aston Villa were right to cut their losses when they did before losing more money, however, Gestede's downhill career proves that the Villans had a disaster when seeking new strikers following the departure of Benteke.

AND in other news: Imagine him & Ramsey: NSWE must complete Villa swoop for "dynamite" £125k-p/w gem