Player #969 for Aston Villa, Jaden Philogene-Bidace, played a winger for the club in the 2020-21, 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Philogene-Bidace first made the bench for Dean Smith’s Villa squad, aged 18, in the home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, 6 March 2021.

Philogene-Bidace was born on 8 February 2002 and signed for Villa as a 16-year-old in July 2018, being promoted to the under-18 squad for the 2018-19 campaign before joining up with Mark Delaney's Under-23 squad for 2020-21.

Jaden missed out on the opportunity to feature in the 3rd Round FA Cup tie with Liverpool in 2020-21 having been part of the development squad involved in First Team training at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak that led to the entire squad being placed into quarantine.

Philogene-Bidace had been originally taken on trial by Villa back in December 2018 and was given an opportunity in a behind-closed-doors game. Lining up alongside fellow trialists — all internationals or players connected to other professional clubs — Philogene-Bidace had little in common with those around him.

Unlike the others, he didn’t have a longstanding academy upbringing or the security of going back to another club. (Brentford let him go in 2013, and subsequent trials across London were unsuccessful.)

Philogene-Bidace arrived for his trial having already been rejected by lesser lights Watford, Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers leading him to join up with two different development centres to help kickstart his career.

Firstly at the Pro:Direct Academy and later at Prolific Sport Management Philogene-Bidace combined education with training and developed a support network that knew Villa’s head of emerging talent at the time, James Beaumont, and which enabled him to secure a trial with Villa.

Early into that trial, Villa saw something the others had missed as Beaumont recalled:

“An hour into his first training session, the coaches came over to me and said, ‘Where have you got this lad from?’ They were saying that he was both technically and athletically unbelievable, and that he could have a bright future.”

“When you work in recruitment, you get so many videos saying look at this guy or that guy. This video was filmed from behind a criss-cross fence at a college in London. At first, I thought, here we go…

“But I watched for about 10 minutes, and I noticed he had something different, something special. I had to get him in for the coaches to have a look at.”

Philogene-Bidace didn’t disappoint as Tom Brady, Villa’s former head of academy recruitment, recalled:

“He was excellent, the best player on the pitch, and he blew us all away. From the first moment we saw him, it became obvious that he was going to be a star player for our under-18 team, and potentially long-term for Villa as well.

“As he wasn’t with a club, his situation was very favourable. It was almost as if it was too good to be true. We decided to take him. It was a no-brainer.”

According to the Athletic, “A blistering display of direct and purposeful attacking football left those on the sidelines purring. The player with the lowest profile, who paid for his digs for the three days while he tried to impress, and who had been rejected by rival clubs because of his size, turned out to be the real undiscovered gem.”

Brady remembered a raw prospect: “He had loads of skills and was tricky, which is exactly what you want in a winger. But, as is the modern-day game now, he still needed a bit of time to be a bit more refined. The coaches have taught him that since.”

Philogene-Bidace’s reward was a first-team squad appearance in March 2021 under Dean Smith as he appeared as an unused substitute aged 19 in the home Premier League game match with Wolves.

Philogene-Bidace would make his first team debut two months later as a substitute in Villa’s victory at Tottenham and would make his second appearance the following season in August 2021 as Villa ran out winners against Newcastle.

That, however was to be his final League appearance for three years, although he made three Cup appearances in 2021-22, including contributing his only assist for the club in the 6-0 EFL Cup victory over Barrow in three days after his Newcastle cameo.

The premature loss of Dean Smith as manager and the arrival of the youth-phobic Steven Gerrard saw Bidace’s fortunes dwindle as he became one of a plethora of young players, hitherto on the cusp of the first team, to be sent out on loan. First Bidace spent the remainder of 2022 with Championship side Stoke City before signing on with Cardiff City for the following campaign.

By the time Bidace’s Welsh loan had ended, Gerrard was gone, and a far more fitting manager for Aston Villa was appointed in Unai Emery.

As Emery said about Bidace in 2023: “We are thinking that playing regularly here is going to be more difficult than going again in another club.

"Of course, we are going to follow him and we are going to be aware as well of how he's developing, but we are very demanding in our squad, in our decision to keep players here. We want to be competitive in every competition we are going to face."

Bidace would come on as a substitute on the opening day of the 2023-24 season, but a bid was forthcoming from Championship side Hull and with €55m Moussa Diaby ahead of Bidace in the wingman pecking order, Villa allowed the young winner to leave in a €5.80m deal that included a buy back clause for Villa.

Such was Bidace’s success at Hull that Villa and Emery showed no hesitation in activating the buy-back clause, and he arrived back at Villa in a €15.00m deal in July 2024.

As Bidace revealed:

"It feels amazing, it’s like I’m back at home. 

"Unai spoke to me face-to-face, and we had a very good conversation about my playing time.

"He said I did well when I was here in pre-season last year and that I’m going to get chances this time. It also depends on me and how I play.

"It’s the latest chapter in my Villa journey, and hopefully I can play my best, get game time and do it in front of the fans.

"What I did at Hull, I want to do the same things at Villa Park; make the fans aware of my skills and score goals.

"It’s a dream come true. When I was a little boy, I wanted to play in the Champions League. I’ve always thought I want to be there one day, and here I am."

Bidace was immediately brought into the first team squad, making his first League appearance for Villa in three years and going on to make 15 appearances in 2024-25, including his Champions League debut, delivering an impressive cameo in the victory over Bayern Munich.

Sadly, though, that would be the highlight of Bidace’s return as confidence issues and difficulty in adjusting to Emery’s demanding requirements left him struggling.

When in the January 2025 transfer window Ipswich Town offered €24.00m for his services, it was too good an offer to refuse, and Jaden Philogene-Bidace’s time with Villa was complete.