Players who played for Aston Villa and Middlesbrough

Which footballers have played for both Aston Villa and Middlesbrough? It's exactly the kind of link that wins rounds of The Connection, our football trivia game. Every player below has been checked against his career record, including loan spells.

Quick quiz: how many can you name before you look? There are 11 in our list.

Show all 11 players

Player	Country	Aston Villa	Middlesbrough
Ugo Ehiogu	England	1991–2000	2000–2007
Gareth Southgate	England	1995–2001	2001–2006
Paul Merson	England	1998–2002	1997–1998
Benito Carbone	Italy	1999–2000	2002 loan
Stewart Downing	England	2009–2011	2001–2009 & 2015–2019
Luke Young	England	2008–2011	2007–2008
Joe Bennett	England	2012–2016	2008–2012
Shay Given	Republic of Ireland	2011–2015	2013–2014 loan
Ritchie De Laet	Belgium	2016–2019	2016 loan
Yannick Bolasie	France / DR Congo	2018–2019 loan	2021 loan
Matt Targett	England	2019–2022	2025–2026 loan

Quick facts

11 players in our verified list have played for both Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.
The most common countries are England (7), Italy (1), Republic of Ireland (1).
The earliest in our list is Ugo Ehiogu; the most recent is Matt Targett.
5 players made the link through a loan spell, including Benito Carbone.

Test yourself

In The Connection you get two clubs and a country, and the first to name a player who links them wins the point. Try it with your mates, or take on today's daily.

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More club connections

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Aston Villa and Liverpool (16)
Aston Villa and Everton (16)
Aston Villa and Sheffield United (15)
Aston Villa and Crystal Palace (14)
Leeds United and Middlesbrough (11)
Middlesbrough and Sunderland (8)
Middlesbrough and Stoke City (7)
Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday (7)
Hull City and Middlesbrough (7)

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