Aston Villa's transfer business in the Championship was often erratic and rarely successful, but the signing of Ross McCormack will surely go down in history as one of the club's worst.

Why did Aston Villa sign McCormack?

With Villa desperate to escape the second tier, the signing of McCormack looked to be a sensible one, given his impressive form in spells at Leeds United and Fulham previously.

The Scottish striker had crashed in 21 goals and ten assists in the 2015/16 Championship campaign for Fulham and boasted a superb return of 58 goals and 31 assists in 157 appearances for Leeds.

The Villans had been relegated from the Premier League that season and were keen for an immediate return to the top flight, so were more than willing to spend £12m on the 29-year-old, which saw him become the joint second-most expensive player in the club's history at the time.

How did McCormack perform during his time at Villa?

Unfortunately for the Midlands club, that investment would prove to be a disastrous one, as he mustered just three goals and one assist in 24 appearances for the club, before he was eventually released by the club in 2019 following loan spells at Nottingham Forest, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne City FC and Motherwell.

McCormack will be remembered by Villa fans not for his performances on the pitch, but for his shocking attitude off it, which was perhaps the main factor behind his demise in English football.

The former Scotland international famously missed training under Steve Bruce due to an incident with the gate at his house, with the experienced manager not holding back in his criticism of McCormack.

He said: “In my opinion, he is not fit enough to play, and he will not play unless his attitude towards training and missing training improves. If that improves then I will reconsider him but if he continues to miss training, as he has done, that will be the situation."

Simon Jordan, who is a regular pundit on talkSPORT, was also less than complimentary of the striker during his time at Villa Park, dubbing him a "lazy slob."

Where is Ross McCormack now?

Villa fans may not be surprised to hear that, at the age of 36, McCormack's time in professional football looks to be well and truly over.

Other than his time at Melbourne City, which returned 14 goals in just 17 appearances, all of his loan spells away from Villa were something of a disaster, so it was not a surprise when few sides were willing to take a chance on him upon his release in 2019.

He did have an extremely brief spell at Aldershot but mustered just 28 minutes of National League action, despite signing a one-year contract with the non-league side.

He hasn't played professionally since departing The Shots and many will look towards his failed time in the Midlands as the beginning of the end for McCormack, in what must surely be considered a transfer shocker by the Villa Park outfit.