Player #896 for Aston Villa, Albert Danquah Adomah played as a winger for the club between 2016 and 2019.

Albert was born in London on 13 December 1987

Roberto Di Matteo had signed Adomah from Middlesbrough for a fee of £3,150,000 on 31 August 2016 and his arrival was one of a number of notable Villa signings that the maligned and brief Di Matteo management team oversaw including Tommy Elphick, James Chester, Mile Jedinak and Jonathan Kodjia as well as Albert.

Albert made his debut appearance for Villa at the age of 28 on Saturday, 17 September 2016 in the Championship draw away to Ipswich Town with Adomah coming on as an 82’ substitute for Leandro Bacuna. And therein lied a core part of Albert’s appeal, a committed, passionate team player with genuine goalscoring and goal creating ability replacing one with little of such attributes.

Although Di Matteo’s regime was short-lived, his transfer legacy was not. Adomah made his full debut on Saturday, 24 September 2016 as Villa once again drew, this time with Newcastle United. Indeed by the time Albert was on the winning side, Villa had a new boss in Steve Bruce.

From that inauspicious start however blossomed a special relationship.

Between October 2016 and March 2017 Albert contributed 10 assists in 25 games and scored 3 goals- the opening strike in Villa’s 3-1 home victory over Cardiff City on Saturday, 26 November 2016 and a a brace in the home draw with Preston North End on Saturday, 21 January 2017.

Albert’s second season was even more productive with 15 goals in 44 appearances starts as well as 5 assists with Albert ending the 2017-18 as Villa’s top scorer.

2018-19 was a quieter season for Albert as he hit four goals and created two assists in his 24 league starts and 15 substitute appearances but he was instrumental in having built the momentum that led Dean Smith’s Villa to promotion back to the Premier League after three seasons away.

Albert’s final appearance for the club came in the Play Off final victory over Derby County on Monday, 27 May 2019 that secured Villa’s return to the Premier League.

Adomah was released by Villa ahead of the 2019-20 Premier League season on 1 July 2019 aged 31 and he subsequently joined Nottingham Forest on a free transfer but he will always be remembered with great affection by those who saw him as a shining example of the sort of player, on and off the field, that Villa needed after such a torrid first half of the decade.