Red cards & public warnings: What's happened to the six players who left Aston Villa in 2021

Aston Villa have reshuffled their pack in each of the three summer transfer windows since they were promoted to the Premier League in 2019.

Owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have opened the chequebook in a bid to bring European football back to Villa Park.

In excess of £300million has been spent across the last three summer windows, and Villa have broken their transfer record during each of those spending sprees.

Emiliano Buendia arrived for an initial £33m from Norwich City last summer and all the signs suggest Villa will shatter their transfer record again in 2022.

There were some significant departures last summer though, most notably the £100m sale of Jack Grealish to Premier League champions Manchester City.

Mbwana Samatta completed a permanent switch to Fenerbahce after moving to Turkey on loan in 2020, while Bjorn Engels ended his Villa Park hell by signing for Royal Antwerp.

Tom Heaton returned to Manchester United on a free transfer, while full-backs Ahmed Elmohamady and Neil Taylor were also released.

Here’s how all six of the players who left Villa permanently are getting on now…

By his own admission, Grealish hasn’t lived up to expectations in Manchester. The England star has only managed two goals and two assists in 17 Premier League appearances for City, in comparison to seven goals and 10 assists in 27 matches for Villa last term.

Grealish hasn’t fared any better in the Champions League either, and Pep Guardiola’s strongest line-up no longer includes the most expensive player in British football history.

He has grabbed more headlines for his antics off the field since moving to City and, alongside Phil Foden, was reprimanded by Guardiola following a Christmas night out.

“At Christmas time I pay