Darius Vassell

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Vassell's best qualities were his speed and agility. Aston Villa fans lamented the fact that his best performances seem to come with England, where he has proved particularly useful as a "super sub", coming on for the last 15 to 20 minutes of a game to trouble a tired defence with his exceptional pace. One oddity of his career was that he had never finished on the losing side in a league game in which he had scored. This run ended on 22 April 2011 when he scored for Leicester City during the 3–2 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

In the 2007–08 season, he was assigned the number 12, as teammate Elano took the number 11 shirt. He generally struggled to find his best form. In the latter half of the season, many of his appearances were as a wide midfielder, as manager Sven-Göran Eriksson adopted a defensive 4–5–1 formation. Vassell was linked with a move away from Eastlands, with Turkish runners-up Besiktas having a £1m bid rejected and linked to other clubs, including Premier League rivals Bolton Wanderers and newly promoted Derby County. Vassell scored his 50th Premier League goal on 10 February 2008, in the victory against local rivals Manchester United. Vassell only played 15 games in 2008–09 and was released at the end of the season as his contract expired.

On 29 October 2011, he suffered a serious knee injury in a game against West Ham United which ruled him out for the rest of the season. The injury was a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. Vassell left the club on 30 June after not being offered a new contract.

Vassell remained without a club until his retirement on 28 January 2016, at the age of 35.

Vassell missed in the penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 against hosts Portugal. Coming on for the injured Wayne Rooney early on in the game, he missed England's last spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, allowing Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo to knock England out of the tournament by scoring the final penalty. Vassell did not play for England again.