EPL: Aston Villa completes loan signing of Nicolo Zaniolo

The 24-year-old is likely to be a replacement for Emi Buendia who sustained a serious knee injury in training before the campaign started. Villa will pay a £4.25m loan fee and there is a “conditional compulsory purchase option” in the deal.

If certain criteria are achieved, the Premier League club will pay £19.2m plus £13.2m in possible add-ons to make Zaniolo’s move permanent.

Zaniolo who has 13 Italy caps, only joined Galatasaray in February and won the league title with the club in the summer.

He is Villa’s fourth signing of the summer and follows deals for defender Pau Torres from Villarreal for £31.5m, midfielder Youri Tielemans from Leicester on a free transfer and the club record signing of forward Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen for £52m.

Speaking to Aston Villa website, Nicolo Zaniolo said;

“I’m very happy to be here and can’t wait to start playing with my new teammates!”

Also penning down a goodbye message to Galatasary fans, the Italian midfielder wrote;

“When I first heard about coming to Turkey, everyone told me: here people have a huge hearts. But I could not know what would be waiting for me.

“Every time I step into the fields I gave all my soul to reach the goal for my team, but here I felt understanding, supported and loved from the first minute.

“Today I leave from this amazing club and I can’t show off how much I’m grateful to have been a part of this beautiful family. Together we have proven that when you are united, nothing is impossible.

“Lions’ family you are now a part of my heart and I promise, I’ll never forget that.”