Aston Villa have re-signed England Under-21 winger Jaden Philogene from Hull City less than 12 months after selling him to the Tigers.
He signed a five-year contract after Villa matched Ipswich Town’s £18m bid for the 22-year-old.
Hull will receive around £13.5m of the fee because Villa had a 30% sell-on clause in the deal that took him to the Tigers last September.
The Tractor Boys looked set to recruit Philogene, but as part of the deal that saw him join Hull, Villa were able to match any offer for the striker.
The club is also close to signing Everton midfielder Amadou Onana for £50 million.
Philogene was keen to move to Portman Road before Villa’s late intervention and he returned from Hull’s training camp in Turkey last Friday before having a medical examination on Monday.
He had initially been dropped off at home by the Tigers early last week, but ended up flying out to briefly join his teammates.
Villa will play in the Champions League this season after finishing fourth in the 2023-24 Premier League.
Philogene made six appearances – but just one start – for Villa after coming through the club’s academy and had loan spells at Stoke City and Cardiff City.
Everton also wanted the winger, while Crystal Palace were interested but decided the deal was too expensive.
He scored 12 goals in 32 games for Hull last season, who finished seventh in the league.
Philogene’s signing and Onana’s expected transfer will take Villa’s spending this summer to around £140m.
Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior he joined from Juventus, Ross Barkley transferred from Luton Town for £5 million and winger Lewis Dobbin joined from Everton for £9 million.
Douglas Luiz was sold to Juventus for £42 million in June, which eased fears that Villa violated profit and sustainability rules.
