Gary Gardner (born 29 June 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for EFL League One side Cambridge United.

[6] He also represented Aston Villa in the inaugural season of the NextGen Series, a European competition for younger footballers similar in format to the UEFA Champions League.

[10] Gardner's six goals left him one short of the competition's joint-highest goalscorers, Jean Marie Dongou of Barcelona and Viktor Fischer of Ajax, with seven.

[15] He came off the bench again a week later as Villa beat Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup, and made his first start on 21 January 2012, in a 3–2 win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

[18] He returned to the Villa first team as an unused substitute against Chelsea on 11 May 2013 and made his playing comeback on the final day of the season against Wigan Athletic.

[24][25] Gardner spent the second half of the season at Nottingham Forest, scoring 4 goals from 18 league appearances; he "thundered home a 30-yard drive via the bar" against Reading in February that was voted Sky Sports News' #goaloftheday.

According to BBC Sport's reporter, he "ran the length of the field to celebrate with 1,988 away fans after superbly heading the visitors in front", but the match ended as a 1–1 draw.

[31][32] The arrival of several midfielders pushed him out of contention for the first team, and at the end of August 2017 he joined Championship club Barnsley on loan for the remainder of the 2017–18 season.

[33] He made 29 league appearances and scored twice, in a 3–2 win against Sheffield United on 7 April and a 2–2 draw with Bolton Wanderers a week later, as Barnsley were unable to avoid relegation.