Image copyright © 1997 Sports Projects Ltd.

Mark Draper - Midfielder Date of Birth: November 11, 1970 Birthplace: Nottingham Nationality: English Height: 1.78m / 5'10" Previous Clubs: Leicester, Notts County Joined Villa: July 5, 1995 Acquisition Price: £3.25 million Debut: August 19, 1996 (Man. Utd. (h)) Left Villa (for): July 6, 2000 (Southampton) Transfer fee: £1.5 million

Mark Draper was bought from Leicester, where Brian Little was manager before Villa. At Leicester, his skill and knowledge of the game pleased Little. Ever since arriving at Aston Villa, Brian Little had been pursuing him fiercely. In the summer of 1995, he succeded, for the fee of 3.25 million. Draper was well worth the dough, as he was a constantly dominant force in the Villa midfield, just like he was at Leicester. Some of his 3/4-pitch passes were unreal. After briefly losing his place among the starting 11, he was back to stay in the 96-97 season with some blinding performances.

However, from season 98/99 and forward, the seasons didn't prove as rewarding as Draper would've wished for. His appearances became less and less frequent, and the fans started to lose faith in him. In the end, John Gregory let him go to Southampton for £1.5 million.

Stats
By the end of the 1997-98 season.

Apperances has substitutions in brackets, i.e. the games when he came on as a sub and didn't start on the pitch. All the stats include cup games.