One of Villa's bright young stars of the future, Stephen O'Halloran made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in May 2007, even though he had yet to play for Villa's first team.

The young defender was called up for Ireland's summer trip to USA and played against both Ecuador and Bolivia.

On the home front, O'Halloran was impressive for Villa's reserves in the early part of the season, scoring in the opening game against Reading and in October he joined Wycombe Wanderers on loan, helping the League One club to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup and playing in the first leg against Chelsea at Adams Park.

He returned to Villa Park shortly afterwards to continue his football education with the reserves - once again scoring against Reading in the return fixture - before earning his first senior international call. He has since been a regular in the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad and was named the 2007 Player of the Year at that level.

The 2007-08 has largely been one to forget for O'Halloran. A disappointing loan spell with Southampton was followed by a chance to add to his experience at Leeds United. Unfortunately he sustained cruciate ligament damage in the warm-up ahead of his debut for the League One side.