Aston Villa F.C. have completed the signing of highly-rated Barcelona starlet Adama Traore for a fee of €10 million.
The deal, which includes a three-year buy-back clause, could rise to €12 million.
Having inked a five-year deal at Villa Park, the Spain youth international, 19, becomes Tim Sherwood’s tenth summer recruit following the arrivals of Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Amavi, Jordan Ayew, Jordan Veretout, José Ángel Crespo, Mark Bunn, Micah Richards, Rudy Gestede and Scott Sinclair.
The former Tottenham Hotspur boss has revealed his delight at beating the likes of Liverpool and Stoke City in the race for Traore’s signature, and rightly so.
“He comes from a very good academy at Barcelona,” Sherwood told the club’s official website.
“He’s dynamic, very quick, he’s a maverick-type player. You never know what he’s going to do next.
“He can hurt the opposition. He makes his mind up when he gets the ball. Not many lads can do that. Not many players in the Premier League can do that.
“He stays wide, he likes to get the ball wide, pick it up and he runs at defenders – he doesn’t give them a minute’s peace.
“I wouldn’t like to compare him with any other player. Hopefully he’ll make his own name for himself and everyone will want to be the new Adama Traore.
“I’ve known him for a couple of years now because I tried to bring him to Tottenham when I was there. It’s someone I’ve been tracking for a long time.”
Traore, who will wear No. 20 for Villa, added: “It’s an honour for me to come here. It’s a club that showed interest in me from the first moment and made me feel important in terms of their project.
“I have spoken to the manager and have a very good impression of him and what he wants from me. All this have made this club my top attraction.
“I would also like to express my gratitude to everyone at FC Barcelona for helping me develop as a player and as a person.”
Traore scored three goals in 37 Liga Adelante appearances for Barcelona B last season.
In other news, Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj has played down reports linking him with a loan move to Sunderland by insisting he will stay and fight for his place in Louis van Gaal’s first-team.
When asked about his future at United, Januzaj told Sky Sports: “It was only rumours. I am happy here and I will play for my place.”
Manchester United are priced at 5/1 to win the English Premier League title this season.
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