Rio Hammond

Striker - Leeds United
18 Apr 2027
Sunday
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Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 16 Awards Matches History

Marked for Rio Hammond

37 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market12 Apr 2027

Noah Atubolu hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aston Villa can pretend not to have heard.

Match10 Apr 2027

Tammy Abraham breaks Wolverhampton hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Tammy Abraham scored in the 85th minute, Wolverhampton had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Aston Villa took the lot.

Squad12 Apr 2027

Douglas Luiz keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aston Villa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad12 Apr 2027

Boubacar Kamara in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aston Villa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market12 Apr 2027

Aston Villa may not be able to give Emiliano Buendía what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emiliano Buendía wants continental football; whether Aston Villa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad12 Apr 2027

Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad12 Apr 2027

Noah Atubolu wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aston Villa know it.

Match10 Apr 2027

Tammy Abraham sends Aston Villa past Wolverhampton

It finished 1‑0, and it was Tammy Abraham’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aston Villa.

Player ratings12 Apr 2027

Amadou Onana shuts the door

Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

In brief

Back issues
33 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad15 Mar 2027

Emiliano Martínez keeps Aston Villa in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad15 Mar 2027

Ollie Watkins in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aston Villa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad15 Mar 2027

Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The terraces15 Mar 2027

Aston Villa supporters have found a favourite in Harvey Elliott

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Harvey Elliott has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match13 Mar 2027

Aston Villa get the job done against Everton

A 2‑0 win over Everton, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings15 Mar 2027

Harvey Elliott in the eights

A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings15 Mar 2027

Tammy Abraham was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings15 Mar 2027

Nobody could get near Amadou Onana

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad15 Mar 2027

Getting past Emiliano Martínez has become the hardest job in the division

10 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.

In brief

29 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad15 Feb 2027

A one-man rearguard from Emiliano Martínez

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad15 Feb 2027

Boubacar Kamara in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aston Villa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market15 Feb 2027

Ian Maatsen wants more than Aston Villa are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad15 Feb 2027

Harvey Elliott falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match13 Feb 2027

Harvey Elliott sends Aston Villa past West Ham United

It finished 2‑1, and it was Harvey Elliott’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aston Villa.

The terraces15 Feb 2027

Aston Villa supporters have found a favourite in Harvey Elliott

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Harvey Elliott has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Market15 Feb 2027

Omar Khedr attracts admirers

The name of Omar Khedr has come up in conversations Aston Villa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Player ratings15 Feb 2027

A masterclass from Harvey Elliott

Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Loan watch15 Feb 2027

Rio Hammond wants to come home

“I did not go to Leeds United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Aston Villa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

In brief