Cost £0, now worth £13.5m: Villa struck gold with “terrific” £15k-p/w machine - opinion

Even though Aston Villa have not been shy over the past few years when it comes to splashing out big sums of money to bring new players to the club, one player that has turned into an important figure for the Villans this season but cost the club nothing, is Jacob Ramsey.

As a product of Villa’s youth system, the midfielder has racked up a total of 115 appearances for the Midlands club across all competitions in their U18, U23 and senior teams, scoring 29 goals and providing 13 assists along the way.

The 20-year-old, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £15k-per-week according to Salary Sport, also had a brief stint away from Villa Park back in the 2020 January transfer window when he joined Doncaster Rovers on loan where he managed to score three goals in seven appearances.

Since making his senior debut for the Villans back in February 2019 in a Championship clash against West Bromwich Albion under former manager Dean Smith, Ramsey has now made 50 appearances for the first team across all competitions, chipping in with five goals and two assists in the process.

Back in December 2020, Transfermarkt had the Englishman’s market value listed at £1.35m, whereas it now stands at £13.5m, highlighting a significant rise in a fairly short amount of time as a result of his efforts on the pitch in a Villa shirt.

This season has seen the youngster score five goals in 21 league appearances, currently making him Villa’s joint-highest goalscorer alongside Ollie Watkins and earn himself an overall performance rating of 6.76/10, making him their eighth-highest rated players according to WhoScored, showing how capable he is of playing with the rest of Villa’s senior players.

Labelled as a “terrific” player by Gerrard, Ramsey has