Ivory Coast international will provide additional depth to Villa’s attack alongside Ollie Watkins
Aston Villa have signed forward Evann Guessand from Ligue 1 side Nice in a deal worth £26m, with a further £4.3m in add-ons.
The 24-year-old has signed a long-term contract at the Midlands club.
Guessand scored 12 goals and provided ten assists in all competitions last season. He was named Nice’s player of the year as the club finished fourth in France’s top flight.
The Ivory Coast international will provide additional depth to Villa’s attack alongside Ollie Watkins, currently the club’s only senior centre-forward.
Unai Emery had been looking to strengthen his forward line after the departures of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, whose loan spells ended in May. Guessand becomes Villa’s second first-team signing of the summer following the arrival of goalkeeper Marco Bizot from Brest.
Villa are eager for more reinforcements to their squad but are wary of breaching Premier League and Uefa financial fair play regulations.
The club were fined £9.5m by Uefa in July for failing to comply with squad cost ratio rules, with an additional £12.9m fine suspended pending compliance over the next three seasons.
