Aston Villa add Jose Angel Crespo capture to Jordan Ayew signing
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Premier League top 10 chances with Coral Aston Villa (4/1) have wasted no time dwelling on the departure of striker Christian Benteke for £32.5m to Liverpool, as they have used some of that money to sign Jordan Ayew from Lorient as a replacement for a reported £12m.
The 23-year-old former Marseille frontman scored a dozen Ligue 1 goals last season, and has penned a five-year deal at Villa Park. Ayew will be hoping to at least emulate prolific attacker Benteke, who managed 13 top-flight strikes.
“I’m really pleased to bring Jordan to the football club,” said Villa boss Tim Sherwood. “He is a fantastic young player who is perfectly suited to the Premier League.”
TRANSFER NEWS: Big hello to our new signing Jordan Ayew! #AVFC #WelcomeJordan pic.twitter.com/rbl7gtefo3
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) July 27, 2015
Sherwood’s side are fairly depleted in forward areas, but Ayew, who had three years left on his Lorient contract, will challenge the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Libor Kozak for a starting berth and looks as though he’ll be their main man up front.
Villa also hold interest in Emmanuel Adebayor, who played under Sherwood at Spurs, as confirmed by assistant boss Ray Wilkins.
“I’m hoping there is [a deal to be done] because when Adebayor wants to play, he is extremely effective,” he told Coral’s media partners talkSPORT. “He knows the Premier League inside out, so he would be a good addition for us.”
Jordan joins his older brother Andre, also a former Marseille attacker, in the Premier League, after the elder Ayew sibling signed for Swansea City on a free transfer following his release from Marcelo Bielsa’s L’OM.
The two could come up against each other when the Villans and Swans meet in the Premier League at Villa Park on October 24th.
In Ayew, Sherwood’s side have bought a proven scorer at both club and international level. He represents Ghana, the nation of his famous father Abedi Pele, and helped them to the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Villa have done well to win the race to sign Ayew, as the likes of German giants Borussia Dortmund and Everton were reportedly linked with him.
The West Midlands club will be happy to have signed talent following the departures of high-profile players such as Benteke, Fabian Delph and Shay Given this summer. Darren Bent, Andreas Weimann, Antonio Luna, Yacouba Sylla and Matthew Lowton have also all left in the past couple of months.
Ayew joins Scott Sinclair, Micah Richards, Mark Bunn, Idrissa Gueye and Jordan Amavi as new recruits in Villa’s ranks, the latter two of which were brought in from France too.
The Villans have also officially announced capture of Spanish full back Jose Angel Crespo, in a further attempt to shore up their backline, and have reportedly agreed a deal with the defender’s current club Cordoba, who were relegated from La Liga last campaign.
Crespo, aged 28, can be deployed on either defensive flank and came through the ranks at Sevilla, later enjoying stints in Italy, before returning to his home nation with Cordoba, for who he made 29 appearances.
