Aston Villa confirm eighth summer signing as 20-goal striker breaks Championship transfer record

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Aston Villa have officially confirmed the signing of forward Jonathan Kodjia from Bristol City, with a four-year deal being agreed upon.

The 26-year-old scored 20 goals in 48 appearances for City last season, and so adds to the growing number of players within the Villa squad with experience and proven results playing in the Championship.

It’s been a busy summer at the club with Kodjia becoming the eighth new arrival as he follows Pierluigi Gollini, Tommy Elphick, James Chester, Ritchie De Laet, Aaron Tshibola, Mile Jedinak and Ross McCormack through the entrance door at Villa Park.

“We are really pleased to have secured the services of Jonathan,” manager Roberto Di Matteo told the club’s official website.

“He is a proven goalscorer and hopefully he’ll play an important part in what we hope will be a successful season for the Club.”

As reported by The Guardian, Villa have splashed out an initial £11m on the signing with it rising to £15m in add-ons to make it a new Championship transfer record. It comes just hours after it was claimed that they were willing spend £20m to sign Hull City striker Abel Hernandez.

However, a disagreement over personal terms ended talk of that move, which in turn led Villa to switch their focus to Kodjia.

Villa have spent big money this summer in rebuilding their squad, and now it’s all down to Di Matteo and his coaching staff to ensure that results match the ambition shown by owner Tony Xia.

Having picked up just one win from their opening five Championship outings, it hasn’t gone to plan immediately, but that’s arguably to be expected given the number of changes made to the team this summer.

As the group continues to settle and improve over the weeks, Villa will feel confident that they now have the pieces in place to make a serious promotion push and get back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

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