Aston Villa have signed Nicolo Zaniolo on loan from Galatasaray with an option to buy, which could reportedly become mandatory if certain clauses are met.
The 24-year-old becomes Unai Emery’s fourth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby. Villa’s president of football operations, Monchi, signed Zaniolo for Roma back in 2018, and led negotiations with Galatasaray to recruit him once again.
Zaniolo only joined the Turkish giants in February from Roma after a move to Bournemouth collapsed in January. He scored five goals in 10 Super Lig appearances for Gala last term after playing 13 times in the Serie A under Jose Mourinho in the first half of the season.
After Monchi signed him for Roma, Zaniolo was named Serie A Young Player of the Year in his first season at Roma having made a stunning impact across the 27 appearances he made under Eusebio Di Francesco and Claudio Ranieri in that campaign. The following season, the attacker picked up from where he left off, before he sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January 2020.
He then missed the entirety of the 2020/21 campaign through another anterior cruciate ligament injury, and returned to fitness for the following campaign when Jose Mourinho was appointed as the Giallorossi’s manager. Zaniolo made a total of 94 appearances for Roma before he headed out to Galatasaray in February for €16.5million as well as add-ons of up to €13million.
Villa boss Emery was asked about possibly signing Zaniolo last week, and said: “We are trying to have possibilities with different players and which players could help us. Zaniolo is not a striker. He is versatile. He can play as a striker, a number seven or a number 10 and he is one of those on our list, with the qualities he has, to help us
