Aston Villa make Ørjan Nyland their first permanent signing of the summer

One minute you seem to have no cash, and the next, you’re making your first transfer of the summer market a reality. Especially so if you’re Aston Villa, who have just announced that the transfer deal to bring Norweigian Goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland to Birmingham from 2.Bundesliga side Ingolstadt has been completed.

Nyland’s arrival wasn’t exactly kept hush-hush - with various ‘ITK’ accounts knowing, and talking, about this deal for over a week. It’s safe to say that the deal is a real thing now, though. Obviously.

The 27 year-old comes to Villa with high ratings. Back in 2013, he was included in The Guardian’s team of the tournament for the European Under-21 Championship due to his ‘brave and aggressive’ style of goalkeeping.

It is expected that Nyland will immediately challenge for the number-one jersey (which, figuratively, is open as nobody has yet claimed the squad number) with Jed Steer. It is not yet known what this means for recent signing Andre Moreira, veteran Mark Bunn and young Matija Sarkic - but Steve Bruce has mentioned that Steer - while promising - does need cover due to his injury issues. Consider him well covered.

As for the long term, Nyland has signed for three years. There’s plenty of time for him to claim a spot in the team. Whether he can do so or not is simply another thing that Villa fans will have to wait on.