The flying winger had been a revelation for Palace in their doomed Premiership season and after refusing to sign a new contract he was sold to Tottenham.
Unable to break into Spurs' first-team, though, a switch to Villa came about in January 2008 and he has yet to make an impression at the Midlands club.
Routledge made his Palace debut in October 2001 in a 1-0 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion, aged only 16, but it was in the 2002/03 season that he burst onto the scene.
The teenager showed no fear against First Division defenders, and was only 17 when scoring his first professional goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers - in the first minute on his first ever start.
The pint-sized winger loves to tear past full-backs and causes no end of problems with his pace. He was an important member of the side which won promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs in 2003/04 and he was an ever-present for the Eagles in the top flight in 2004/05.
But with his contract coming to an end the England Under-21 international chose to stay in the Premiership, rejecting a new deal with Palace and heading for Tottenham.
Routledge looked a bargain at £1.25million, but a metatarsal injury put him on the sidelines for the best part of four months.
On his return the winger struggled to get into the Spurs team leading to a loan move to Portsmouth for the remainder of the season as the transfer window closed in January 2006.
Failing to make much of an impression on Harry Redknapp, Routledge agreed to join Fulham on loan as part of the deal which took Steed Malbranque to White Hart Lane in the summer of 2006.
While he got more of a chance to play at Craven Cottage, he was still not able to secure a permanent deal and was eventually snapped up by Martin O'Neill for £1.25million in the 2008 January transfer window.
The youngster is only on an 18 month deal, meaning he will have to prove himself worthy of a long-term contract.
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