Aston Villa have officially announced the signing of Johan Manzambi from Freiburg, in a deal said to be worth in excess of £50m.
The 20-year-old has emerged as one of the top prospects in European football during his time in the Bundesliga, with Villa seeing first hand his talent and potential when we faced him in the Europa League final last season.
Evidently, Unai Emery and our recruitment staff liked what they saw from him, while he’s also bagged nine goals and 11 assists in 58 appearances at senior level for Freiburg, and six goals in 16 caps for Switzerland.
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Having impressed at the World Cup this summer as well, it’s clear that Manzambi has a bright future ahead of him, and as per the club’s statement, he has now completed his move to join us.
As per The Athletic, Villa have broken the club’s transfer fee record to land the Swiss international’s signature, as it’s noted that the fee is in excess of £50m, and surpasses what we spent on Amadou Onana.
Further, he is quoted with his first words since being unveiled, and it certainly sounds as though he’s excited ahead of this new chapter in his career.
“I’m very excited to be here and to be training with Unai Emery and the team. It’s a very big club in England and they’re playing in the Champions League. I’ve already played against Aston Villa, and for me, it was the perfect plan.”
The talented youngster did pick up an injury during the World Cup earlier this month and he would have been given an extended break regardless to rest and recover, but it remains to be seen when he’ll link up with his new teammates at Bodymoor Heath and begin pre-season training.
Villa get our summer schedule underway next week at Walsall, and while that game might come too soon for our first look at Manzambi in action, he’ll hopefully recover from his knock and feature heavily over pre-season to get up to speed and help his adaptation process.
There is real excitement over this signing given his talent, potential and how the guidance and influence of Emery can help him improve and develop his game, and so hopefully he can go on to play a pivotal role in our success moving forward.
