Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard is delighted with their swoop for Olympique Marseille midfielder Boubacar Kamara.
Kamara will formally join Villa at the end of June when his OM deal expires.
Gerrard said, “We're really happy with that news, I think we've signed a fantastic player with huge potential. This is a player who has played a lot of football at the highest level and has recently been called up to the national team on his recent performances. I'm absolutely delighted to welcome him to Aston Villa, and he'll certainly make our team and our squad a lot stronger. It's a big day for the club. It shows our intent, straight after the season that's just passed us, and it shows our intent going into the new one. I'm delighted.
“He's a young player, in terms of age, but he plays with a lot of maturity. He's played a lot of games in one of the top five leagues. He's robust, he's very consistent and he's exactly the type of player we need if we want to go to the next level. He suits our style, and I have no doubt that once he settles, the Aston Villa fans will be witnessing a very top player."
Gerrard also laid out his plans for Kamara next season.
“He can play as a defensive midfielder. He can also play as a left eight or a right eight in our system. He's also capable of playing as a centre-back in the middle of a back three – he can also play to the right or the left. He has got a bit of versatility, but we have signed him as a midfielder. It's always nice as a manager to know someone can take on tactical information. We watched him a lot at Marseille and he's played in numerous roles with consistency at a high level.
"It was well documented I went out to watch the game against Nantes and he was man of the match, clearly, as a central midfielder in a two. Both sides of the game, out of possession and in possession, he had a lot of quality. We couldn't wait to get the signing done. It's only happened recently because he wanted to be very respectful to Marseille, which is understandable. To get the news recently that he'd signed is a big step for Aston Villa."
