Player #859 for Aston Villa, Aleksandar Tonev played as a winger for the club in Villa’s 2013-14 Premier League season making 20 appearances.

Tonev was born in Elin Pelin, Bulgaria on 3 February 1990

Paul Lambert had signed Tonev from Lech Poznań for £2,880,000 in July 2013 and like so many signings under Lambert’s bewildering regime, Tonev was out of his depth with Villa. Where did Paul Lambert find them? Allegedly Tonev was recommended by Villa legend Stiliyan Petrov but that’s where the similarities ended. 8 starts, 12 substitute appearances, no goals, no assists, a loan to Glasgow Celtic, and a ban for “using abusive language of a racist nature”.

Despite his apparent failings, Lambert named Tonev in 33 of Villa’s 41 squads in 2013-14 and whilst he was largely used as a substitute late on in games his 8 starts and appearances on the bench at half time, 66’ and 67’ gave him ample opportunity to add some spark to games however he conspicuously failed to do so and made his final appearance in Villa’s 1-2 defeat to Fulham on Saturday, 5 April 2014.

Tonev would be sent out on loan to Glasgow Celtic for the 2014-15 campaign before moving on to Frosinone Calcio in August 2015 on a free transfer aged 25.

Tonev had played under Paul Lambert.