Aston Villa have splashed out £7 million for Barcelona winger Adama Traore.

Villa manager Tim Sherwood paid a personal visit to Catalonia to get the deal over the line and revealed he had first tracked the 19-year-old when in charge of Tottenham Hotspur's academy.

Sherwood said: "I've known him for a couple of years. I tried to see if it was possible to bring him to Tottenham when I was there. He is someone I have been tracking for a long time.

"I went to Barcelona and spoke to the representatives. We made a huge effort to bring him to the club. We showed him this is a great stage for him.

"He has played a lot of games for someone so young because he is physically a man. He is a big powerful boy, very quick, dynamic, maverick-type player, you never know what's going to come out next.

"Those players are very few and far between. We are delighted he has chosen Aston Villa to continue his development.

"He is not the finished article by any means. He is certainly a player who can help us out now, but for the long term future he is magnificent.

"He stays wide, picks the ball up runs at defenders and doesn't give them a minute's peace. I wouldn't like to compare him to any other player, hopefully he'll make his own name for himself and they will want to be the new Adama Traore.

"We recognise he needs developing and that I will give him as much development time as possible. We will give him a lot of work on the training field to improve what he already has."