Player #933 for Aston Villa, José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo, known as Jota played as a winger for the club between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Jota was born in Puebla del Caramiñal, Spain on 16 June 1991 and made his Villa debut as a substitute at the age of 28 in the Premier League match with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, 10 August 2019.

Villa had signed Jota from Birmingham City in July 2019 for a fee of £4,050,000 plus midfielder Gary Gardner moving in the other direction. Jota became the first player that Villa had signed from neighbours Birmingham City since Alan Curbishley in 1983.

Jota had previously worked with Villa boss Dean Smith at Brentford who had taken this to the West London club in 2014 and where the had his strongest spell in English football.

Jota started the 2019-20 campaign as a first team starter appearing in 7 of Villa’s first 8 games of the season, before injury kept him out of contention through October and November 2019. Jota would make a substitute appearance in the league in the away defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday, 4 December 2019 but would have to wait until the end of the year for his next league start in the catastrophic defeat to Watford on Saturday, 28 December 2019.

Thereafter Jota would not reappear in the Villa squad until the restart of the Premier League season following its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic and would make just two further substitute appearances for the club.

Jota recalled “When you don’t have the chance, it’s hard. I wanted to help the team avoid relegation. I wanted to be out there with the lads.”

In total Jota made 10 Premier League appearances, 6 as a substitute, one FA Cup appearance and three EFL Cup appearances, scoring once in the EFL Cup away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday, 25 September 2019.

Jota however was in the squad for the final game of the season at the London Stadium where Villa faced West Ham United needing to secure a result to stave off relegation. Jota recalled: “I was so, so nervous. I felt like I was having a heart attack in those final few minutes because I knew how sad relegation would be. One goal against would have changed everything. It would have been horrible for the supporters if Villa were relegated and so different to now.”

Jota made just two appearances as a substitute in the EFL Cup in the 2020-21 season before being released from his contract by Villa in October 2020.

Jota had played under Dean Smith.

Reflecting on his time with Villa Jota said “In the end, we all celebrated a lot because we are a team and that’s the most important thing. But I wanted to play more. I wanted to help the team. I wanted to be out there because I felt I deserved the opportunity.”

Jota’s final appearance came on 1 October 2020 as a 77th minute substitute for Bertrand Traoré in Villa’s Fourth Round EFL Cup tie with Stoke City. Jota recalled “I knew the game against Stoke at Villa Park might have been my last. It’s hard leaving behind friends, a brilliant set of supporters and such a fantastic stadium. But I wanted to be involved in every game and show my quality. I wanted to show more to the supporters at Villa. They didn’t see the real Jota. I wish I could have found a different way with Villa, that I could have had more chances. But that’s football, and that’s life.”

“I was surprised that I didn’t play too much at the start because in pre-season I did really well. Honestly I was a little bit angry. I felt I did good things to help the team when I had my chance. But I always respected the manager. I trained 100 per cent and tried to show what I could do.“