Aston Villa sign Mbaye and Harwood-Bellis as Newcastle get Fernandez-Pardo
Aston Villa sign Mbaye and Harwood-Bellis as Newcastle get Fernandez-Pardo. Gabriel Jesus completes move from Arsenal to Barcelona Harvey Elliott joins Valencia on loan from Liverpool Aston Villa completed the signings of Ibrahim Mbaye and Taylor Harwood-Bellis on deadline day, with Unai Emery confident the club’s radical summer overhaul has left Villa in position to replicate their recent success.
Gabriel Jesus completes move from Arsenal to Barcelona Harvey Elliott joins Valencia on loan from Liverpool Aston Villa completed the signings of Ibrahim Mbaye and Taylor Harwood-Bellis on deadline day, with Unai Emery confident the club’s radical summer overhaul has left Villa in position to replicate their recent success. Villa, who have lost both of their Premier League games this campaign, have qualified for the Champions League in two of the past three seasons and won their first major trophy in 30 years after lifting the Europa League.
The £47m arrival of the 18-year-old winger Mbaye from Paris Saint-Germain and £25m deal for Harwood-Bellis from Southampton represented Villa’s ninth and 10th summer signings respectively. Villa had generated more than £300m from the sales of nine players, six of whom started May’s Europa League triumph in Istanbul; Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Emiliano Martínez all departed Villa Park in recent weeks, Rogers and Martinez joining Chelsea.
Watkins’ £50m exit to Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal, after rejecting Villa’s offer of a new contract, led to Villa signing Nicolas Jackson for an initial £47.5m that could rise to a club-record £65m. Earlier in the window, Villa signed Johan Manzambi for a club-record £52m from Freiburg but the Switzerland midfielder is yet to make his debut as he continues his recovery from a knee injury he sustained at the World Cup.