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In the 1998 movie Sliding Doors, Gwyneth Paltrow’s life takes two different paths depending on whether she misses a train on the London Underground.

There must be times when Aston Villa winger Scott Sinclair wonders what might have happened if he hadn’t chosen to head through the Liberty Stadium exit doors in 2012 and stayed at Swansea instead.

After all, Sinclair had just helped the Swans comfortably finish in 11th place in their first season in the Premier League, just 12 months after scoring a hat-trick at Wembley against Reading to help take the Welsh side into the top flight.

(Image: Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)

But, in the three-and-a-half years since he left Swansea City, Sinclair has started a total of 34 games, coming on as a substitute in another 35, while scoring nine goals, a situation that looked unthinkable as he was lauded at the Liberty.

His stock couldn’t have been higher at the time, and he looked to have finally found his home in South Wales after a nomadic existence since coming through the youth ranks at Chelsea.

Never given the chance to establish himself at Stamford Bridge, Sinclair was sent out on loan to a host of clubs – Plymouth, QPR, Charlton, Crystal Palace, Birmingham and Wigan.

But former Blues youth coach Brendan Rodgers knew what he possessed and took him to the Liberty Stadium.

Money well spent

What a well-spent £500,000 it proved to be, Sinclair’s treble in the play-off final taking him to 27 goals for the season and pointing to a bright future.

As to be expected, the Premier League proved a tougher nut to crack, but the wide man’s eight goals proved important, including collecting points from games with Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Bath-born forward’s progress certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the big boys, with Manchester City winning the race for his signature in a £7.5m deal. That’s when Sinclair’s playing nightmare began.

Though the Citizens lifted the Premier League title during his second campaign, Sinclair was never seemingly part of manager Roberto Mancini’s plans. In three years as a City player, he made only two Premier League starts for the Etihad Stadium side and failed to find the net in any competition.

The West Brom loan

Things didn’t really improve during a loan spell at West Brom, making just 11 appearances and failing to find the net.

Sinclair spent a season on loan at West Brom but struggled to hold down a first-team place and didn’t score in 11 outings before heading back to the Etihad.

The Villa struggles

Salvation seemed to be at hand, with a loan deal, then a permanent one to Aston Villa seeing him help the club to the FA Cup final. Sinclair, who is 27 on March 26, hoped that would see him return to prominence, saying at the time of signing a four-year deal: “I don’t regret the decision I made.

“I took the chance, I went there. It didn’t plan out how I wanted it to because I didn’t get the chance I wanted. That’s football.”

But, after scoring six goals from a central role under Tim Sherwood at the start of the season, Sinclair was shunted wide and then onto the bench, from where he has made his last seven Premier League appearances, by new manager Remi Garde.

There was even talk of a Swansea loan return during the last January transfer window which came to nothing.

Instead, it looks like Sinclair’s Liberty return in Saturday’s vital clash, with Villa rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, eight points adrift of Newcastle above them, will be wearing a substitute’s bib.

(Image: 2015 Aston Villa FC)

Sinclair's appearances from Swansea onwards

Swansea

Games – 80 (11 as sub); Goals – 36.

(since Aug 2012)

Man City

Games – 3 (16); Goals – 0.

West Brom

Games – 6 (5); Goals – 0.

Aston Villa

Games – 25 (14); Goals – 9.