COMMENT

Aston Villa have had more than their fair share of transfer failures over the years.

Randy Lerner and Sir Doug Ellis made some shocking buys and even Tony Xia has been partial to the occasional flop in less than two years at Villa Park.

In Villa's demise from the Premier League there were some particularly bad signings, with most of them being strikers who failed to live up to price-tags and failed to score anywhere near enough goals.

Aston Villa do not really have an out-and-out striker leading the goalscoring charts this season thanks to Jonathan Kodjia's injury issues and Steve Bruce's squad being able to chip in with goals from all positions.

Albert Adomah (15) and Conor Hourihane (nine) are in fact the Villains' two top scorers this term, and given the club's position in the table, it's clear that a centre-forward is not really of much concern to Bruce.

It would be of absolute no concern if he sees how Villa have spent money on strikers down the years though.

And here, Football Insider puts together a list of the five worst striker signings that Villa have made.

Click below to find out who is number five in our list...

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5. Tony Cascarino

Signed from: Millwall - Fee (approx): £1.1million - Appearances: 43

Cascarino become Aston Villa's record signing in 1990 but never really matched the expectations that were set of him after three impressive years at Millwall.

Ron Atkinson decided to boot the former Ireland international after less than a year.

It was his performance in an eight-a-side game against the youth team that ultimately ended Cascarino's time at Villa Park before he joined Celtic.

Click below to find out who is number four in our list...

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4. Stan Collymore

Signed from: Liverpool - Fee (approx): £7million - Appearances: 46

Collymore should have been living the dream when he signed for the club he supports in 1997, but his on-field performances and off-field issues meant it would be a nightmare for the Staffordshire-born forward.

He battled depression and spent weeks in hospital but there were the occasional glimmer of hope when he became the third Villain in history to score a hat-trick in European football after legendary duo Gary Shaw and Peter White.

For the fee that Villa played and the form that Collymore showed, he had to be included in this list.

Click below to find out who is number three in our list...

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3. Emile Heskey

Signed from: Wigan - Fee (approx): £3.5million - Appearances: 110

Oh dear.

Heskey was a running punch-line for his entire three-year spell at Villa Park.

He made over 100 appearances for the West Midlands giants but scored a paltry 14 goals.

For some reason, the 62-times England international was played out wide at times, which was shocking given his complete lack of pace and technical ability.

Somehow, results were good while Heskey was at Villa Park which shows just how good Martin O'Neill was.

Click below to find out who is number two in our list...

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2. Ross McCormack

Signed from: Fulham - Fee (approx): £12million - Appearances: 24

What does £12million get you nowadays? An average English midfielder or in this case a fully-fledged international with bags of Championship experience and the worst electric gates in history.

McCormack should have been a brilliant signing for Villa given his impressive goal record in England's second-tier.

However instead of firing the club back to the Premier League he went AWOL from training after a series of poor performances, blaming it all on his faulty electric gates.

The Scot has scored just three goals for the Claret and Blues and it's pretty obvious that he will be off in the summer for much less than the £12million spent on him.

Click below to find out who is number one in our list...

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1. Bokso Balaban

Signed from: Dinamo Zagreb - Fee (approx): £5.8million - Appearances: 9

Balaban has written himself into Villa Park folklore for all the wrong reasons, becoming infamous for being one of the clubs' worst ever signings and in this case, the £5.8million flop takes top spot.

The Croat made just nine appearances in two-and-a-half years at Villa and failed to score a single goal.

His record in front of goal was impressive in his home nation, but he never came anywhere near to replicating that form in England before he was released outside a transfer window for him to join Club Brugge on a free transfer.