Aston Villa complete £38m Joao Gomes signing from Wolves

Aston Villa have completed the £38m signing of midfielder Joao Gomes from Wolves.

The Brazil international joins for an initial £34m with £4m in add-ons.

Villa completed a club record deal worth more than £50m for Freiburg midfielder Johan Manzambi on Friday, beating Newcastle to the Switzerland international.

Atletico Madrid had also been keen on Gomes, but the 25-year-old left Wolves' training camp in Portugal on Thursday to have a medical and finalise his move to Villa Park.

Villa midfielder Amadou Onana is out until next year after suffering a serious knee injury with Belgium at the World Cup.

Villa have also sold Youri Tielemans to Manchester United for £35m, while fellow midfielder Morgan Rogers is set to leave after a £117m deal was agreed with Chelsea.

Gomes made 41 appearances for Wolves last season and was named Player of the Year as they finished bottom of the Premier League.

He played 130 times for the club, scoring seven goals, after joining from Flamengo in 2023.

Wolves technical director Matt Jackson said: "Joao deserves everything he gets from the game. He's a model professional, a lovely young man and a great family man.

"He's the type of professional coaches love and players love, so he will go on to be the outstanding player that we know he is.

"We're obviously sorry to see him go, but we have to take responsible decisions for the football club, and then we build to be stronger collectively.

"It's a very natural part of football - the best run football clubs who don't have unlimited resources have to work this way.

"The model is something that we have to adopt, and our fans have always been hugely understanding of that."

Villa needed to move after Onana suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on duty at the World Cup with Belgium, which threw a major spanner in Villa's transfer plans this summer.

With Tielemans being sold, Villa had a gaping hole in their midfield, even if Boubacar Kamara is due to return from his own serious knee injury, which he suffered in January.

Gomes arrives with the experience and Premier League know-how to hit the ground running under manager Unai Emery.

Emery wants ready-made players equipped to understand his methods quickly and Gomes should fit the bill well.

A combative player, he made the third most tackles in the Premier League last season with 107, behind Everton's James Garner and Joao Palhinha, who was on loan at Tottenham from Bayern Munich and whom Villa also hold an interest in this summer.

Gomes' ball recoveries were the fourth highest in the division - he won possession 194 times.

With 116 Premier League appearances in his three and a half years at Molineux, there is plenty of experience as Villa move into a new era following last season's Europa League win.

Gomes arrives at a fair price with Villa needing to walk the financial tightrope to ensure they comply with Premier League and Uefa financial regulations.

His accuracy in those moments, almost 84%, is not elite but respectable. It is secure enough in possession for a high intensity midfielder.

On the ball, Gomes tends to carry play forward rather than rely on long or ambitious passing.

He ranked 14th for progressive carries and, although his forward passing numbers were lower, he did lead all Premier League midfielders for line-breaking passes played in the final third.

The only clear flaw in his profile is discipline. He conceded 69 fouls - the most in the league. He is combative, sometimes over zealous, but in bringing him to Villa Park, Unai Emery will believe that edge and ability to win the ball back will strengthen his side's midfield.