Player #881 for Aston Villa, Rudolphe Philippe Michel Camille Gestede, known as Rudy Gestede, played as a centre forward for the club in Villa’s Premier League relegation season of 2015-16 and during the Football League Championship campaign of 2016-17, making 55 appearances and scoring ten goals.

Gestede was born in Essey-lès-Nancy on 10 October 1988 and was signed from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of €8.50m on 31 July 2015. Gestede was one of a series of controversial signings undertaken ostensibly under the leadership of Tim Sherwood but in truth driven by the sheer idiocy of Sporting Director Hendrik Almstadt and Director of Scouting and Recruitment Paddy Riley. Two names that would be painted into Villa folklore for their footballing illiteracy and ultimate responsibility for Villa’s first relegation in three decades.

Indeed, Gestede’s arrival was one of several 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 Gestede, as well as Micah Richards, Jordan Veretout, Jordan Ayew, Adama Traoré, Joleon Lescott and José Ángel Crespo were brought to the club despite being nowhere near the standards required for a top-flight player, and Villa paid the price.

Such was the folly of Villa’s spending that just 12 months before Villa paid €8.50m for his services, Gestede had moved to Blackburn for €240k. His value multiplying by a factor of 34 on the back of scoring twenty goals in 39 games in England’s second tier in 2014-15.

In fairness to Gestede, unlike some of his fellow newcomers, it wasn’t entirely his fault, and he didn’t display the arrogance and self-entitlement of some of his new teammates.

Despite his Championship record, Gestede was patently not a goalscoring centre forward, nor a mobile one, at Premier League level. It was therefore hardly surprising that he would prove a failure in a poor side.

Worryingly, however, his stint with Villa in the second tier was arguably worse, and it was no surprise to see him leave midway through his second season. What beggared belief, however, was that Middlesbrough saw fit to spend €7.10m on recruiting the player. Presumably, Villa weren’t the only poor judges of football talent in the era; indeed, Boro also paid Villa over €8.00m for the misfit Adama Traore. Quite why they saw value in two players instrumental in the abject failure of Villa’s relegation is a mystery.

Gestede’s career with Villa had started on a positive note as he made a goalscoring debut against newly promoted Bournemouth, coming on as a 59’ substitute for fellow newcomer Jordan Ayew.

Gestede would make his first start for Villa in the away defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, 22 August 2015 and would not again score a Premier League goal for the club until 26 September when he grabbed a brace but ended up on the losing side at Anfield.

Three goals in his first seven league games, however, suggested that for all his immobility and limitations, Gestede might be a source of goals that Villa desperately needed.

Gestede’s next fifteen games put paid to that theory, however, failing to score as Villa lost ten, drawing five. It wouldn’t be until his 25th appearance that Gestede scored his fifth goal for the club and in so doing earned Villa a draw against title-chasing Leicester City; however, Gestede would score just once more in 2015-16 with Villa relegated.

Gestede’s strike rate of one goal every six games underlined the lack of creativity and incisiveness in this most wretched of Villa squads. A player of such rudimentary footballing ability, such as Gestede, simply could not be expected to perform, let alone thrive, in such a set-up.

Despite his glaring deficiencies, there were genuine hopes that Gestede would find his level again in the second tier and help Villa bounce back with promotion. That, however, was to prove anything but the case.

Gestede started the season as a first-team regular, appearing in six of Villa’s first seven Championship games, scoring twice, before being overlooked for the far more threatening, creative and dynamic Roberto Di Matteo signing, Jonathan Kodija.

With Di Matteo’s swift departure and Steve Bruce’s arrival, Gestede was handed two starts as Bruce shuffled the pack, but again, Gestede failed to score or make an impact, and he was once more relegated to a substitute role.

Making six appearances from the bench and one start, Gestede scored just once under Steve Bruce.

Unsurprisingly, Bruce cut Villa’s losses, and Gestede made his final appearance for Villa in the draw with Leeds United on Thursday, 29 December 2016, aged 28.

Gestede would carry his Villa form to his new home, scoring just five league goals in 48 games for Boro before being released in 2020, once and for all underlining that Blackburn Rovers 2014-15 had indeed been a freak season.

Gestede had played under Tim Sherwood, Rémi Garde, Eric Black, Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce.