Friday 12 August 2016 15:26, UK
Aston Villa have completed the signing of centre-back James Chester from West Brom on a four-year contract.
Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo confirmed negotiations were taking place on Friday morning after the Baggies accepted a transfer fee in the region of £7m on Thursday, according to Sky sources.
And Villa announced the transfer had gone through on Friday afternoon, shortly after owner Tony Xia had taken to social media to welcome Chester to the club.
Xia tweeted a picture of himself shaking hands with Wales international Chester alongside the caption: "Aha! Hard work everyone! Welcome to Villa!"
Di Matteo is keen to strengthen his squad after back-to-back defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Luton at the start of the season and Chester becomes the fifth new arrival at Villa Park this summer following on from Tommy Elphick, Pierluigi Gollini, Aron Tshibola and Ross McCormack.
West Brom boss Tony Pulis had earlier wished Chester, who impressed for Wales at Euro 2016, well at his new club after he failed to secure a regular starting spot for the Baggies following his £8m switch from Hull City last summer.
Pulis said: "Great lad, great for us and great Euros. [But] he wanted to play regular football [and it's] a good deal for James and for us, as long as we can reinvest.
"It just didn't work out and sometimes that's the way it is. We've shaken hands, it's a clean cut, and we move on."
