Fabrizio Romano confirms Aston Villa transfer

Having been very close to signing a deal with newly promoted Ipswich Town, Jaden Philogene is returning to Aston Villa having signed a five year contract. The king of football transfer Fabrizio Romano has this afternoon confirmed this is the case.

Phiolgene left Aston Villa last summer and signed for Hull City for a fee of £5 million. Having impressed on Villa's pre-season tour of USA many were surprised to see the winger leave rather than being a part of Unai Emery's plans for the new season. Philogene was told he couldn't be guaranteed regular playing time and he therefore chose to leave the club in order to do so.

12 months on and after a wonderful year in the Championship, Philogene had been rumoured to leave the Tigers and sign for a club for higher calibre. There were rumours that Barcelona held an interest in exploring a deal for him but that interest soon went away. Then this week saw Ipswich Town have an offer accepted by Hull and Philogene came close to signing a deal at Portman Road.

There was a twist in the tale however as Aston Villa's sell-on clause meant they had the right to make a matching offer to any club that wanted to sign him. It has been reported by Romano that the plan in Unai Emery's mind was always to sign Philogene back once he'd had the chance to gain more experience in the Championship. 12 goals and 6 assists from 32 Championship games later and Philogene returns to Aston Villa and will likely be an important part of their squad ahead of an exciting Premier League and Champions League season.

The deal that sees Philogene return to Villa Park is worth £13 million as Villa had a 30% sell-on clause included in last summer's agreement with the Tigers, despite Ipswich offering a higher fee in the region of £18 million.

The official confirmation from the club should come in the next few days and Philogene will then team up with his new (and former) colleagues ahead of the Walsall pre-season fixture on Wednesday.

Philogene becomes Aston Villa's sixth signing already this summer following the arrivals of Ross Barkley, Enzo Barrenechea, Samuel Iling-Junior, Ian Maatsen and Lewis Dobbin.

UTV