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After making just 33 appearances for the club, Gary Gardner's time at the Villa is up.
Aston Villa have today announced on their official Twitter account that Birmingham City have completed a deal to take Gary Gardner across the second city on a permanent basis. He'll be linking up with his brother, Craig, at Birmingham.
We can confirm Gary Gardner has completed a permanent move to Birmingham City.#AVFC pic.twitter.com/4vrfQ6dx43
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) June 5, 2019
This comes after a successful loan spell at the club for the duration of the 18/19 Championship season, a season that saw Aston Villa promoted to the Premier League. Gary made 40 appearances for the Blues.
It has been rumoured that Gardner is a makeweight in Villa's chase for Jota - a Birmingham City player. If this is the case, we expect Villa to make an announcement shortly. Again, if it is the case that Gardner is Villa's offer in a trade for Jota, it represents an incredibly savvy move from Villa's transfer committee.
It's extremely safe to say that Villa have made the best of this particular deal. Gaining a former Dean Smith favourite (he managed Jota at Brentford) for the cost of a maybe a few million and Gary Gardner is exceptional work.