This article forms part of our Total Duds feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at a player who has disappointed since being signed, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to illustrate how ill-judged the transfer decision has been.
Libor Kozak arrived at Aston Villa with a reputation for scoring goals in Europe, and was considered to be an exciting signing at the time.
The Czech striker joined the Villans for £5 million from Lazio in September 2013, and in the previous season, he had been the leading goalscorer in the Europa League with 10 (via talkSPORT).
Manager at the time Paul Lambert certainly held him in high regard, and spoke in glowing terms about him upon his arrival.
“We’ve been on this one for the last few months, trying to bring him to the Club, so I’m delighted to get it across the line,” Lambert said upon his arrival (via talkSPORT).
“Libor has an unbelievable scoring record in the Europa League, incredible really. He wasn’t given much opportunity for Lazio in Serie A but he showed proper potential in leading the line there at a strong club with a great tradition and we need somebody like him as we only have Christian Benteke really as a main target man.
However, despite being brought in to compete with Benteke and to add more goals to the team, it would be fair to say that Kozak failed to deliver.
In his first term at Villa Park, he actually started quite well and scored four goals in 14 Premier League appearances, just eight of which were starts (Transfermarkt).
But his season was ultimately cut short, he suffered a fractured leg which ruled him out from mid-January until the end of the campaign (Transfermarkt).
It wasn’t just the end of the 13/14 season that he missed with the injury either, it also kept him out of action for the entire of 14/15 too (Transfermarkt).
When he did return in the 15/16 campaign, he really struggled to make an impact. He failed to make a single appearance until January, and after finally stringing together four games in a row he picked up an ankle injury which once again kept him out until the end of the season (Transfermarkt).
The following year Villa found themselves in the Championship after being relegated, but yet again Kozak couldn’t make much of a contribution. He was selected to play just twice in the second tier and was left out of the squad most weeks (Transfermarkt).
At the end of that campaign the club decided to release Kozak on a free transfer (avfc.co.uk).
Ultimately the Czech failed to live up to expectations at Villa Park, with just four goals in 22 appearances all told (Transfermarkt). Granted his career at the club was blighted by injuries, but in the end it was £5 million that was wasted by the West Midlands club.
Aston Villa fans, where does Libor Kozak rank amongst the worst signings your club has made in recent years? Let us know in the comments below…
