On this day in 2000: Aston Villa signed a star for club-record fee
The striker arrived at Villa Park from Argentinian outfit River Plate for £9.5million, eclipsing the £7m paid for Stan Collymore in 1997.
After scoring 17 goals in 17 games for River Plate, Angel was signed; however, he took a while to adjust to life in England and ended the 2000–01 season with just one goal.Writing on The Coaches’ Voice website, Angel said: “Things weren’t easy. There is always a normal adaptation process that every player must face, but I went through a difficult personal situation away from the game.
After we arrived in England, my wife fell ill, and she ended up staying in the hospital for about six months until our first kid was born.
However, the league had its own set of challenges. The competition’s speed, physicality, weather, and profanity.
Additionally, the team lacked adequate organizational preparation when it comes to bringing in foreign players from our area.
After settling down in Birmingham, Angel scored 62 goals in six and a half years. The highlight of his tenure with the team was during the 2003–04 season, when Villa finished sixth in the Premier League and advanced to the League Cup semifinals under David O’Leary.
Angel added: “That season, I scored 23 goals in all competitions. The truth is that I didn’t really understand the scale of what that meant in a league like the Premier League.
That was most likely the nicest thing that ever occurred to me.
Angel relocated to the United States after leaving Villa in 2007 and played for the New York Red Bulls, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Chivas USA. He later rejoined Atletico Nacional, his original club, where he retired in 2014.
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