Aston Villa complete £37.5m Ian Maatsen transfer as Chelsea sell Champions League finalist
ASTON VILLA have completed the signing of Ian Maatsen from Chelsea.
Unai Emery’s side agreed to pay the Blues a whopping £37.5million for the left-back and it is understood he has penned a six-year deal.
Maatsen, 22, joined the Chelsea academy from PSV in 2018.
He made his debut in September 2019 but was shipped out on loans to Charlton, Coventry and Burnley.
Maatsen – who is preparing for the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 last-16 clash with Romania on Tuesday – played 15 times under Mauricio Pochettino last season.
However, the Dutchman was allowed to spend the second half of the 2023-24 campaign with Borussia Dortmund.
And he even started the Champions League final as the Bundesliga giants lost 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley.
Maatsen ended up playing seven times in the competition, even scoring in the quarter-final victory over Atletico Madrid.
His performances for Dortmund even earned him a spot in the Champions League team of the season while Edin Terzic labelled him the best left-back in the Bundesliga.
The German side were keen to sign him on a permanent deal.
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But Dortmund, now managed by Nuri Sahin, could not afford the £37m fee and reluctantly had to stand back and watch Villa snap up the highly-rated defender – so his arrival will be seen as a coup for Emery and his transfer guru Monchi.
After his heroics last term, now Maatsen can prepare for another season in the Champions League – this time with his new side Villa.
Emery led the Villans to a shock fourth-placed finish last term, beating Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United to a place in Europe’s elite competition.
Villa have already signed young winger Lewis Dobbin from Everton for around £10m.
Egyptian teenage winger Omar Khedr will join officially on July 1 while 19-year-old centre-back Ethan Amundsen-Day has signed for the academy.
Emery also revealed a deal is agreed to bring Cameron Archer back to Villa Park, just a year after leaving the club for one season with relegated Sheffield United.
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