Carles Gil has opened up about his ill-fated stint at Aston Villa, admitting his time in Birmingham was marred by clashes with teammates and poor decisions off the pitch.
The Spanish midfielder, who joined Villa from Valencia in January 2015 for around €4.2m, arrived with hopes of making his mark in the Premier League. He showed early promise, registering an assist in just his third appearance — a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.
Brilliantly made by Traore 🏃♂️
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 26, 2021
Spectacularly finished by Gil 🔥#GoalOfTheDay // @AVFCOfficial pic.twitter.com/KKZmCViKmy
However, that bright start quickly faded. After a run of five consecutive losses, Gil was dropped to the bench. His final outing of that season came in a 2-1 loss to Stoke City, when he was hauled off in the 58th minute.
From there, he spent several games on the bench before disappearing from the squad altogether for the remainder of the season, before resurfacing the following campaign with a 22-minute cameo against Sunderland and playing a part squad role for the 2015/16 season, before being loaned out by Tim Sherwood for the 2016/17 season.
"They wanted to kill me"
Across his Villa career, Gil managed 34 appearances, three goals, and three assists. But his spell at Villa Park is remembered more for frustration and missed potential than success — and the player himself admits his behavior behind the scenes didn’t help matters.
“I have enough to write a book in those few months,” Gil confessed in a recent interview with FOX Deportes.
“I remember, a game ended, and I quickly went to the shower and left, and I was playing with Carlos Sánchez, and I remember he started calling me.
‘Where were you? The coach was looking for you for the post-match chat to commentate on the game and everything. Oh, I’m at home. I don’t know what, and the next day, ugh, I had to apologise. The English players didn’t understand. In training they wanted to kill me.’”