We saw him holding up the kit outside of Bodymoor Heath earlier today, but as is traditional, Aston Villa have taken their time officially confirming the signing of Rudy Gestede from Blackburn Rovers. But we have that confirmation now and we can (officially) say, "Welcome Rudy!"
TRANSFER NEWS: Rudy Gestede joins Villa. Full story: http://t.co/aWzFrWaMQT #AVFC #WelcomeRudy pic.twitter.com/zXxjbuBzYp
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) July 31, 2015
The contract is for five years, which will keep Gestede at Villa through the 2019-2020 season.
Gestede joins Villa in what may be a stream of strikers. The club have already brought in Jordan Ayew and it's still expected that Emmanuel Adebayor will be joining from Tottenham. That means that competition up front should be fierce this year. If everything happens that we expect, Tim Sherwood will have Gabby Agbonlahor, Callum Robinson, Libor Kozak, Ayew, Gestede, and Adebayor to choose from. That likely means that Gabby gets relegated to a bench role (and not even a guaranteed one) and Robinson may see a loan for another year. That's certainly not a bad thing.
And can this bunch replace Christian Benteke? Individually, I doubt any of them can. But as a group, there is a lot more skill here than Villa have had up front in years. It's not hard to imagine Benteke's goals being easily replaced even if the Belgian himself is not.