Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Nicoló Zaniolo from Galatasaray on a season-long loan deal.
The 24-year-old joined the Turkish giants in February and went on to score five goals and provide one assist in 12 appearances last season, which followed on from a largely impressive spell with Roma.
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With 24 goals and 18 assists in 128 outings for the Giallorossi, Zaniolo emerged as one of the top Italian prospects at that time, and he has since collected 13 caps as well as scoring two goals for the Azzurri.
He did suffer two serious knee injuries during his time in Rome between 2019 and 2021 though, and while he has put those specific setbacks behind him, there will perhaps still be an element of concern moving forward for some.
Now though, he starts a chapter in his career with Villa, and as per the club’s statement, the Italian international has joined us on loan for the rest of the season.
With his technical ability, strength, speed, height, creativity and eye for a goal, he promises to be an exciting addition to the Villa attack this season as we look to compete on multiple fronts.
The arrival of Zaniolo will help fill the void left behind by Emiliano Buendía following his own injury setback last week, and so the Italian playmaker has an important role to play moving forward to ensure we have a strong year.
That said, it’s unclear at this stage if he was a target prior to Buendia’s blow, and so we could yet see further activity in that department between now and the end of the transfer window.
Zaniolo has been ruled out of action in recent weeks due to a groin strain, and so we’ll likely have to wait for his debut as he recovers and integrates with his new teammates. Nevertheless, there is already a lot of excitement and positivity over what he could potentially bring to this Villa side.
The former Galatasaray and Roma ace becomes our fourth summer signing, with Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby having already joined us, and while we have to prove ourselves on the pitch week in and week out, we’re certainly building an exciting team that will hopefully be capable of competing for major honours this year.
