Aston Villa had a star on loan who then became a “world-class” £50m ace -

Aston Villa have worked their way up the footballing pecking order in recent seasons and currently find themselves competing in the Champions League.

Unai Emery has led them to the pinnacle of European Football and they are once again competing to land a top four finish in the Premier League this term.

The Villans’ improved status in the top-flight has also changed their approach to transfers, as they no longer have to rely on bringing in young stars on loan to bolster their squad, with zero loan players in the squad as it stands.

Villa have, however, had some excellent loanees over the years, including the likes of Tammy Abraham, Tyrone Mings, and Philippe Coutinho in recent years. Another player who starred for the Club on loan in the past was English defender Kyle Walker.

Kyle Walker’s loan spell with Aston Villa

The young defender joined the Villans on loan for the second half of the 2010/11 campaign in the Premier League, after spending the previous season on loan at QPR in the Championship from Tottenham Hotspur.

Walker hit the ground running with the Club with a run of 15 starts in 15 appearances in the top-flight before he returned to Spurs in the summer of 2011.

2010/11 Premier League	Kyle Walker
Appearances	15
Goals + assists	4
Tackles + interceptions per game	4.7
Key passes	15
Dribbles completed	26
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the fleet-footed flier caught the eye with his contributions in and out of possession for Gérard Houllier’s side.

Unfortunately, though, Villa only got to enjoy his talents at right-back for five months before his loan deal ended and Tottenham finally deemed him ready to emerge as a regular in their first-team.

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Since his stint with the Villans, which was his first prolonged exposure to Premier League Football, Walker has gone from strength to strength and forged an exceptional career.

How much Man City paid for Kyle Walker

After the England international racked up four goals and 18 assists in 229 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions, Manchester City swooped in to secure his services in the summer of 2017.

The Cityzens reportedly splashed out a staggering fee of £50m to sign the defender, six years on from his spell with Villa, and that was a world-record fee for a defensive player at the time.

It is fair to say that he has been worth the outlay for City. Since moving to The Etihad, Walker has won six Premier League titles and one Champions League, amassing 309 appearances in all competitions in the process.

The veteran defender was once described as “world class” by former Premier League man Danny Higginbotham and hailed as “superior” by Pep Guardiola, who lauded his 400th top-flight appearance as “unbelievable”.

Walker, who has been capped 90 times by England, has developed into an elite player in world Football, as shown by his achievements and the praise he has received, and Villa should be proud that they played a relatively important role in that, with his first taste of regular top-flight action.