Player #879 for Aston Villa, Jordan Kevin Amavi played as a left back for the club in Villa’s Premier League relegation season of 2015-16 and during the Football League Championship campaign of 2016-17 making 48 appearances.

Jordan was born in Toulon on 9 March 1994.

Tim Sherwood’s Villa had signed Jordan from OGC Nice for £9,900,000 on 18 July 2015 and his arrival was a refreshing antidote to the sub-standard Villa signings that maligned the club throughout the 2015-16 campaign and drove Villa to their first relegation in nearly 30 years. Players such as Adama Traoré, Micah Richards, Jordan Veretout, Jordan Ayew, Rudy Gestede, Joleon Lescott and José Ángel Crespo were brought to the club despite being nowhere near the standard for a top flight player and Villa paid the price.

Jordan Amavi however was made of different gravy and despite injuries, a new league, new country and new language he suffered from none of the arrogance and self entitlement of many of this fellow newcomers.

It is little exaggeration to say that a Villa team full of Amavis wouldn’t have been anywhere near the relegation zone in 2015-16 however for all his good qualities on and off the pitch, Jordan’s contribution to Villa was blighted by injury.

Jordan made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 8 August 2015 aged 21, winning the man of the match award, as Villa recorded, what would turn out to be a rare victory over AFC Bournemouth in the opening game of the 2015-16 Premier League season.

Jordan played in 10 of Villa’s first 12 Premier League games of the season before injury struck that ruled him out for the season.

Whilst his team-mates toiled to the most torrid relegation imaginable Jordan set about his recovery determined to repay Villa for the faith they had shown him no matter what league they were competing in.

The contrast in Jordan’s attitude to those of some of his team-mates really cannot be overstated. In truth Jordan was too good for the Villa side of 2015-16 and too good for the second tier in which Villa competed in 2016-17 however true to his word, Jordan remained with the club with the single minded pursuit of helping them regain their Premier League status.

Jordan made 36 appearances as Villa struggled to adapt to life in the second tier featuring under both Roberto Di Matteo and his successor Steve Bruce but Jordan couldn’t be expected to stay with Villa as a 13th placed club in English football’s second tier and so with the blessing of the club and surely anyone who saw his commitment to the Villa cause, Jordan was allowed to move on loan to Olympique Marseille ahead of a permanent move in July 2018 in exchange for a fee of £9,000,000.

As Amavi recalled in 2021:

“It’s true that at the time it was an important amount for a young defender [£9,900,000 for a 21 year old]. It never got to my head because I was living a dream. Plus, England was great for someone who likes going into challenges like me. Especially tackling, they love that. In fact, players will get criticised for going in hard whereas, over there, it’s seen in the same way as a nice skill.

“Sometimes, it was a bit much, I’ll admit! I also loved that mentality of never giving up. I remember that game against Leicester, the year they won the title. We were 2-0 up but lost 3-2 in stoppage time. The scenario was so crazy that I realised it’s a really unique football country.

“Despite the bad results, I loved my experience. Life was nice, despite the lack of sun. My dad didn’t like that! He told me, ‘I’ll never come back’.”

Jordan played under Tim Sherwood, Kevin MacDonald, Rémi Garde, Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce.