The former Portsmouth winger who still remains a free agent after Aston Villa summer release

Following Villa's 1-0 victory over Yeovil in the Carabao Cup at the start of the 2018-19 season, then-boss Steve Bruce was asked why Andre Green was absent.

Bruce innocuously confirmed the winger was poised for a loan switch – to Pompey.

Cue the Fratton faithful Googling Green’s name, finding out where he played and how highly rated he was at Villa Park.

Surveying his profile, there weren’t many negatives. It looked a shrewd bit of business from Kenny Jackett.

However, the winger’s fleeting spell on the south coast proved to be fairly indifferent.

Only a matter of weeks after joining the Blues, he underwent an operation to have a cyst removed. That put him behind the rest of his new team-mates

And when he returned to fitness, there was no way of dislodging Ronan Curtis on the left flank. The Irishman was in rampant form as Pompey chased automatic promotion.

Still, Jackett was always an admirer of Green and he scored some important goals in his 19 appearances. The late winner in the FA Cup at Norwich is what he’ll be remembered for most by supporters.

Yet it wasn’t a huge surprise when he was recalled by Villa during that season's January transfer window,

He wasn’t playing much at PO4, while Dean Smith – who’d replaced Bruce as boss – had previously tried to sign Green when in charge at Brentford.

While it wasn’t as big a blow of losing Ben Thompson, his departure still impacted Pompey as they eventually suffered play-off semi-final defeat.

When Curtis and Jamal Lowe suffered from fatigue in the second half of the season, Green would have been handed more minutes had he stayed.

Instead, Viv Solomon-Otabor – who arrived as Green’s replacement – failed to make a profound impact, while Lloyd Isgrove didn’t play for a single minute.

Green would toast promotion come May, however, as he came off the bench in Villa’s play-off final win over Derby to mark their return to the Premier League.

Last season, he hoped for regular Championship football when moving to promotion-hopefuls Preston.

Yet it proved another frustrating period for him at Deepdale. He made just six appearances - two in the Carabao Cup and four off the bench in the second tier - and scored one goal.

Like the previous year, his loan spell was cut short prematurely in January and instead joined Charlton.

Green had more success at The Valley, bagging twice in 14 games although he only featured three times when the season resumed following the lockdown period.

In truth, it wasn't a surprise he was released by Villa at the end of his contract.

However, the fact he's still not found a club almost six months later will shock some people given his pedigree and how highly he was regarded when coming through the ranks at Villa.

QPR and Sheffield Wednesday had been mooted as potential next destinations earlier in the season, but nothing materialised.

Recently, there have been reports on social media Green is trialling with Brentford. Still only 22, his career is very much ahead of him and there’s time to fulfil his potential.

However, not for the first time, Green is in footballing limbo.