Nicki Bille Nielsen. Villarreal signed him in 2010; he made one first-team appearance, he mostly played with Villarreal B but was also loaned to Elche, where he was successful, and Rayo, where he wasn't. He's currently doing the Poznan, playing for Lech Poznan.
Trivia: Nicki Bille has played for three teams that went bankrupt; Martina and Lucchese in italy, and Evian Thonon Gailliard in France.
Marco Ruben. Villarreal signed Ruben in January 2008, and after a loan spell at Recreativo Huelva, he played in our B team and then for the first team, scoring 14 times for Villarreal in the Primera. He left in the bog clear out after our relegation, moving to Dinamo Kiev. He hardly played there, and after unsuccessful loan spells at Evian (not when Nicki Bille was there, I don't think) and Tigres in Mexico, he moved back to the club where he started his career, Rosario Central. He's scored 30 goals in 50 matches since his return.
Trivia: Ruben's glancing header--just wide--was Villarreal's last gasp against Atleti in the match that saw us relegated in 2012. Villarreal made €3m profit off his sale, incidentally.
Ikechuckwu Uche: Three years older than Ruben at age 32, Uche has spent most of his career in Spain, but he did spend some time with Tigres as well, Villarreal selling him to the Mexican side in the summer of 2015. We may not have made money on his sale, but we sold him at the right time, since Tigres first loaned him to Malaga and then let him go to second-division Gimnastic Tarragona on a free.
Trivia: I'm pretty sure he is the last Villarreal player to net a hat-trick, scoring three times in our 5-2 drubbing of Rayo in January 2015.
Jonathan Pereira: Has there ever been a more likeable, yet ultimately unsuccessful Primera player, than Jony? Villarreal developed the kid with the amazing speed, and he made his Primera debut way back in 2006, scoring against Levante before being loaned out to Racing Ferrol and Racing Santander (playing for clubs with Racing in their name seems appropriate in Jony's case). He was sold to Betis, then we got him back in January 2013--first on loan, then a transfer.
He's been in the Segunda the past two seasons--first at Lugo, now Real Oveido. At age 29, it's hard to see him competing at the top level once his speed goes.
Trivia: Yes, he may have been the "nearly man" on many occasions, but he did score the goal that got us back to the Primera. For that, he will always be a Villarreal fan favorite.
Alejandro Martinuccio: He was our main addition in the January 2013 window, but never got a chance to play that much with us. He scored one goal, against Real Zaragoza in a match Villarreal managed to throw away late on, as we did so many times that season.
Martinuccio has unfortunately struggled with injuries since his loan spell ended, never playing more than 13 matches and missing all of 2015 due to injury. He's now at a Brazilian Serie A club, Chapecoense.
We'll end on a more positive note....Joselu Moreno, who was Villarreal property until 2013, scoring goals at will for our C team and the B. He's bounced around once we released him, but has now settled at CD Lugo, where he is doing well in partnership with our loanee Alfonso Pedraza.
Trivia: Remember Joselu playing as a single striker against Manchester City in the Champions League? Yep, it happened.