Town Finally Complete Philogene Signing
Town have finally finalized the agreement to acquire Aston Villa striker Jaden Philogene.
The Blues and Villans negotiated a £20 million price with add-ons estimated to be worth a further £3 million for long-time target Philogene last Wednesday with the 22-year-old completing a four-and-a-half-year agreement and passing a physical the following day.
However, minor technicalities pertaining to the transition remained unresolved until today with the relocation being accomplished this evening.
“I’m excited to be here and I know there are great players in the squad,” Philogene told the club website.
“I just want to play as much as possible. As a player I want to dribble and link up play and produce goals and assists. I’m looking forward to it.”
Speaking about Philogene earlier today, before the deal had been confirmed, manager Kieran McKenna said: “I think what’s really important in all this is that Jaden is really keen to come to the football club.
“I think it’s been a slightly longer process than we would have wanted, but it’s been steadfast within all that that Jaden believes in the project here.
“He has shown a desire to come here, not just now but in the summer as well. It’s quite well known that we sought to get Jaden to the football club in the summer and amid having the alternatives of quite a number of well-established Premier League teams, his declared desire was to come here.
“It was something that we tried to do in the end, but it wasn’t possible with the contractual situation with Aston Villa, and he went back to his previous club.
“He’s shown a good desire to be here through the last couple of windows. He’s a guy who we know well, he’s a player that we like and we’d want to bring to the football club.”
England U21 international Philogene has long been a Town target with ties initially appearing in the summer of 2023 before the Hammersmith-born forward moved from Aston Villa to Hull City.
In July last year, the Blues had negotiated a joint-deal with the Tigers for the attacker and teammate Jacob Greaves with the Philogene side of the potential trade reported to be worth £18 million and the player having accepted personal terms at Portman Road.
However, his former club Villa had 72 hours within which to exercise matching rights as part of the deal they had agreed with the Tigers the previous summer, which they did and Philogene returned to Villa Park for £13 million – the Midlanders also taking advantage of their 30 per cent sell-on – with the forward signing a five-year contract.
But Philogene made only three starts – two in the Premier League – and 11 sub appearances for Villa in the first half of the season and speculation regarding a swift exit began to surface before the January window opened with Town making an early move, while Everton, one of the summer’s other suitors, were also reported to have shown renewed interest.
Philogene is the Blues’ second acquisition of the January window after defender Ben Godfrey.
The transfer has been finalized too late for his inclusion against Brighton on Thursday but with boss McKenna not normally featuring players until they’ve trained with the team for a few days anyhow.
A debut off the bench against Manchester City on Sunday appears inevitable.
Town are still hunting for a number nine and another striker, with offer for Liverpool teenager Ben Doak, who is now on loan at Middlesbrough having been denied nearly a week ago.
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