Aston Villa have taken their summer spending close to £100m after completing a deal for Reims defender Bjorn Engels.
The recently promoted club have paid £9m for the Belgian centre-back.
Engels is the fourth centre-back Villa have signed this summer.
In a statement on the Aston Villa website, Dean Smith said: "Bjorn is a player that I've been watching for the past 18 months.
"We're very happy to have secured his services and look forward to working with him."