Aston Villa have re-signed England Under-21 winger Jaden Philogene from Hull City less than 12 months after selling him to the Tigers.
He has signed a five-year contract after Villa matched Ipswich Town’s £18m offer for the 22-year-old.
Hull will receive about £13.5m of the fee because Villa had a 30% sell-on clause in the agreement that took him to the Tigers last September.
The Tractor Boys looked poised to recruit Philogene but as part of the deal that saw him join Hull, Villa were able to match any offer for the forward.
Villa are also close to signing Everton midfielder Amadou Onana for £50m.
Philogene had been keen to move to Portman Road before Villa’s late intervention and he flew back from Hull’s training camp in Turkey last Friday before having a medical on Monday.
He had initially been left at home by the Tigers at the start of last week but eventually flew out to briefly join his team-mates.
Villa will play in the Champions League this season after finishing fourth in the 2023-24 Premier League.
Philogene made six appearances – but just one start – for Villa after coming through the club’s academy and had loans spells at Stoke City and Cardiff City.
Everton also wanted the winger while Crystal Palace were interested but decided a deal was too expensive.
He scored 12 goals in 32 games for Hull last season as they finished seventh in the Championship.
The signing of Philogene and the expected transfer of Onana will take Villa’s spending this summer to about £140m.
Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior have joined from Juventus, Ross Barkley has made a £5m move from Luton Town and winger Lewis Dobbin joined from Everton for £9m.
Douglas Luiz was sold to Juventus for £42m in June, which eased fears about Villa breaching profit and sustainability rules.