Former Aston Villa midfielder Carles Gil has detailed how he fell out of the picture at the club under Tim Sherwood, a moment in time which he describes as one of the most surreal of his career.
The midfielder [has been speaking to FOX Deportes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7OqhNUVBXE) about his career to date, which includes a chat about his time at Aston Villa.
He joined the Villans in a €4.2m deal in 2015, leaving his boyhood club Valencia to try his shot at the Premier League.
He initially started brightly under Paul Lambert but would go without a win in his first five games and soon found himself on the bench and out of the picture.
Tim Sherwood then replaced Lambert at the helm at Villa Park and Gil found himself in the picture once again the following season, but he would only make nine appearances under him before Remi Garde arrived.
He handed Gil 18 appearances in total but his time at Aston Villa would never take off and by 2016 he was on loan at Deportivo La Coruña, who he eventually joined on a permanent transfer in 2018.
Now he’s looking back at his time in the midlands and admits it was all very surreal for him, full of confusing moments.
“It was one of my most surreal moments in the world of football,” he said.
“I remember perfectly. I’ll never forget the sporting director. I was very, very highly valued at that time. And I remember him saying “We’re going to have a coach and players for you.”
“I don’t know what happened, a coach came, Tim Sherwood, and he arrived the first week. The truth is, he speaks very highly of me.
“I don’t know who we played. I remember him saying to me, like he says, “Come on, man.” I said, “Maggi, I don’t know what it is,” he said to me like that. And five minutes later, in the 50th minute, he substituted me.
“At that moment, it also speaks to you a little about the quotient of awareness, not about being overpowered, but I hardly even considered the substitution because I hadn’t, I’d never been subbed before, or I’d played everything.
“From then on, I didn’t play a minute again. I think there was a game in the cup. I didn’t go from heaven to hell in that matter. It wasn’t anything in a matter of days.
“I saw something was changing, and I didn’t know how to handle it at all. I had just turned 22, and my head went crazy. I didn’t understand a thing.”