In the spotlight: Nicky Shorey

Nicky Shorey already has the unusual achievement of having played in all four divisions and represented England.

When he appears in Europe - presumably sooner rather than later - he will have an almost unique full set.

The 27-year-old Londoner started his career as an apprentice with Leyton Orient a decade ago, but only managed to make fifteen league appearances for The O's as a teenager. "They had a good left-back, Matt Lockwood," he recalled last summer, shortly before Lockwood's move to Nottingham Forest - a switch to a bigger club that Shorey had predicted. "I'm surprised he hasn't moved, because I couldn't see myself getting in front of him," he said.

Luckily for the new Villan, he didn't need to. He did enough in his handful of games to persuade Alan Pardew, then manager of League One club Reading, to offer him a week's trial. The left back did enough to tempt Pardew into parting with £25,000 to secure his signature a week before his twentieth birthday, and started on the road to the top flight.

"The Premiership seemed a long, long way away," says Shorey of his apprenticeship in the lower divisions.

"But I always thought I could play at the highest level - I believed in my ability and what I could do on the pitch.

"You have to keep the right attitude and need that little bit of luck to go with it - and I was fortunate to get that with my move to Reading. Thankfully I haven't looked back since."

For a while, neither did Reading. Shorey helped them to promotion from League One to the Championship, remained number one choice at left back as Alan Pardew was replaced by Steve Coppell, a manager with no doubts about his former player's ability.

"Shorey is very, very important to us," said the Reading manager as they secured a top half finish in their debut season in the big league. "He's a hell of a good player and different from the accepted type. His use of the ball is top quality for us. It's a foundation for us. In the transition from defence to attack it's very important; he's a key member of what we're about."

Coppell wasn't the only person who noticed Shorey's excellent form. '"Shorey for England," sang the home supporters as Reading destroyed West Ham United,' wrote The Independent, 'with left-back Nicky Shorey playing a part in four of the six goals put past the club he supported as a child.' A man of the match performance against Tottenham swiftly followed.

Unfortunately, Shorey's own ascending star - he was capped by England against Brazil and Germany - wasn't matched by Reading, who in the absence of Steve Sidwell, now reunited with Shorey at Villa, were relegated from the Premier League on the last day of the season.

The defender didn't have to wait long for his second crack at the top flight, with Martin O'Neill beating Portsmouth and Sunderland to his signature.

"It's nice to see that players can still come from nowhere," said Shorey the first time he made it into the big league. It'll be nice to see what this one can do in claret and blue.