Player #886 for Aston Villa, Jordan David Lyden, played as a midfielder for the club between 2015-16 and 2017-18, making eight appearances.

Lyden was born in Perth, Australia, on 30 January 1996 and signed professional forms with Villa in July 2014 after coming through the youth team ranks following his arrival from ECU Joondalup 🇦🇺 in 2012 aged 16.

Lyden was promoted to the first team squad by Rémi Garde, making his first squad appearance in the 0-2 Premier League defeat against Arsenal on Sunday, 13 December 2015. Lyden did not make it onto the pitch but made another unused substitute appearance in the final game of 2015.

The following month, Lyden was once again named in the first team squad, this time making his debut aged 19, as an 83’ substitute for the hapless Micah Richards in Villa’s 1-1 draw at Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup Third Round on Saturday, 9 January 2016. A game in which Villa fans’ anger over the mishandling of the club was vented in full force at players and staff.

Thereafter, Lyden was a virtual ever-present in the match-day squad for the remaining Premier League fixtures to the end of the disastrous 2015-16 campaign, making four appearances, including two starts.

Lyden’s first start for Villa came in the home loss to AFC Bournemouth on Saturday, 9 April 2016, under caretaker boss Eric Black, following Rémi Garde’s departure.

In total, in the most torrid of seasons in which to make your debut, Lyden made six appearances, including three starts.

Lyden would make no appearances for the club in the 2016-17 Football League Championship Season under either new Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo or his replacement Steve Bruce however he returned to the Villa squad in the following campaign as Steve Bruce named him in the EFL Cup match-day squad on two occasions, with Jordan making an appearance from the bench on both occasions.

Lyden’s second appearance of 2017-18 would also be his final appearance for the club, coming in the 0-2 3rd Round EFL Cup defeat to Middlesbrough on Tuesday, 19 September 2017. Lyden had come on as a 63’ substitute for Scott Hogan.

Bruce sent Lyden out on loan to Oldham Athletic for the first half of the 2018-19 season, but when Lyden returned to the club in January 2019, Bruce was gone and had been replaced by Dean Smith. Smith saw no realistic prospect of Lyden breaking into the first team, and as a result, Lyden was released in March 2019, aged 23, having made eight appearances for the club across his four seasons on the books of Villa.

Lyden, though, could reflect on his time with Villa with positivity:

“I was lucky to make the grade at Villa to a certain extent. I would have loved to have played a bit more and still be playing at the top, but things have happened.

“I still look back at that as one of my best achievements in football [winning the NextGen Series with Villa.

“It was a great experience. At such a young age to play against the best teams across Europe and then to win it was an amazing feeling”.

“The best game was the semi-final against Sporting Lisbon. They had some very good players, the game went to extra-time, and then Jack [Grealish] scored to put us 2-1 up.

“But we had a very good team all the way from the keeper to the top of the pitch. I think a lot of the players that were a part of that squad are still playing professional football now, so it just shows how good of a team we actually had.

“We had a very good squad, we worked hard and knew what we had to do and how to play as a team, and I think that’s what got us over the line in the end.

“We were quite a close-knit group. Chelsea had Nathan Aké and Lewis Baker, so they had some quality footballers as well, but we came out 2-0 on top in the final, so that was obviously great for us.

“It was a great experience for all involved and put us in good stead to become professional footballers on the big stage.

“It was my dream to play in the Premier League since I was a young kid, so the fact I was able to achieve that, no one can take that away from me.

“The atmosphere isn’t great when you’re on the losing side, but I was lucky enough to have players like Gabby Agbonlahor help me get through that.

“At the end of the day, I was just a youngster coming into that environment, but they spoke to me and sat me down a few times after training and helped me, so I thank them for what they’ve done in my career as well.”

Lyden played under Rémi Garde, Eric Black, Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce.