Aston Villa transfer target Evann Guessand has travelled to Birmingham ahead of his medical on Thursday to complete his touted €35m move.
The 24-year-old is coming off the back of an impressive season last year in which he scored 13 goals and provided 10 assists in 42 appearances across all competitions, and given his attributes and qualities, he looks like a potentially excellent fit for Unai Emery’s side.
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As reported by L’Equipe this week, Villa have agreed a deal worth €35m with OGC Nice to sign the Ivorian international, while he is expected to put pen to paper on a five-year contract.
It was hoped that the transfer would move at pace given the new Premier League season is fast approaching with our opener against Newcastle United next weekend, and Julien Laurens reports that Guessand will be in Birmingham on Thursday to undergo his medical and sign his new deal.
Further, Sacha Tavolieri has obtained a photo of the attacking ace boarding his plane to England, and so the expectation is that things will progress quickly now as he looks set to be unveiled as a Villa player possibly as soon as this week.
With his pace, flair, technical quality, creativity, eye for goal and ability to drop back into space and drive at defenders, Guessand looks like an ideal signing for Emery as part of his preferred system and style of play, and so he’ll hopefully add an important fresh dynamic to our attack and make us more dangerous.
Time will tell if his expected arrival will mean an exit is required to make space in the squad for him and to help balance our books, but Guessand could prove to be an excellent addition to the squad as we look to compete on multiple fronts again this year and continue to progress under Emery.
It has been a quiet summer thus far in the transfer market and so it remains to be seen if further arrivals will follow, but this is undoubtedly an important recruitment push to bolster our attacking options with a versatile player in Guessand, who can provide competition and cover for Ollie Watkins up front, or play on either flank in support of him.
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