Aston Villa have raided Birmingham City to sign Jota.
Aston Villa swooped to sign playmaker Jota from Birmingham City on Wednesday, and he’s been discussing his move across the second city.
Villa won promotion to the Premier League last week with a Championship playoff final win over Derby County, and have now swooped for their first signing of the summer.
There was plenty of shock when rumours emerged that Villa would be swooping to sign Jota, as deals between Villa and bitter rivals Birmingham are rare.
However, Villa confirmed the move on Wednesday, with Jota arriving at Villa Park for an undisclosed fee, whilst midfielder Gary Gardner went the other way.
Jota, 27, now reunites with his former Brentford boss Dean Smith, and they’ll be hoping to rekindle their relationship after Jota racked up 12 goals and five assists under Smith in the second half of the 2016-17 season.
The Spaniard hit three goals and 11 assists last season, and brings some depth to the Villa side given that he’s able to play out wide or as a number 10.
After making his move, Jota admitted to the club’s official Twitter account that he felt how big of a club Villa is whilst playing with Birmingham, feeling that they really push the team forward, and he’s ‘very happy and proud’ to be playing for Villa now having sampled that atmosphere.
“Obviously, people know Villa is a big club, you can feel that,” said Jota. “I felt that last year, I was playing for the other team, City, we had big derby games. The supporters push the team, I am very happy and proud to play at this big club,” he added
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