Aston Villa 2016-17 player preview: Rudy Gestede

Rudy Gestede scored the winning goal in Aston Villa’s win on the opening day of last season. That was as good as it got for both Gestede and Aston Villa. Despite finishing the season as Villa’s second-leading scorer, Gested netted just five goals.

This season, Gestede is back in the league where he performed well enough to get the move to Aston Villa. He scored 20 goals for Blackburn Rovers in 2014-15. In theory, he could be a useful player for Aston Villa this season.

However, with the addition of Ross McCormack, and the apparent retention of Jordan Ayew, Gestede might not be starting that many games. The Championship season is 46 games long, so as long as he sticks around, he will get some game time, just maybe not that much.

Even if Gestede doesn’t make the starting XI often, he still provides a "plan B" as an aerial option should Aston Villa need it.