Collymore delivers Twitter verdict on new Aston Villa Icelandic star
By Will Butcher
Stan Collymore is excited to see midfield signing Birkir Bjarnason finally pull on the claret and blue of Aston Villa.
The Iceland international secured a move from Swiss champions FC Basel to Villa Park, which was confirmed on Wednesday on their official website.
Posting on his personal Twitter account, Collymore described the 28-year-old midfielder as a potential new “cult hero”, after putting pen to paper on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Bjarnason, who has 56 caps in total for Iceland, played in all of his country’s five games at Euro 2016 including the win against England, and finished the tournament with two goals to his name.
Collymore made mention of that in his tweet, using the hashtags #Iceland, #Euros, #Warrior.
Aside from those miserable 90 minutes for England fans, most people in the UK won’t know much about Bjarnason, but the long-haired midfielder has played for the likes of Standard Liege, Pescara and Sampdoria, as well as Basel.
Joining goalkeeper loan signing Sam Johnstone, former Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury and teenage right-back James Bree, Bjarnason arrives as Villa’s fourth January signing.
Manager Steve Bruce is looking to gain promotion for the fifth time in his career to the Premier League, and will be hoping that Bjarnason can play a major part in helping him do that.
Bjarnason could join defender Bree in making their first appearances for the Midlands giants in six days time, when Villa travel to Griffin Park to face Brentford.
It remains to be seen how Bruce will incorporate Bjarnason, after signing Lansbury and the impending move for Barnsley captain Conor Hourihane nearing completion.
In other Aston Villa news, Jonathan Kodjia sent this message to supporters after AFCON heartbreak.
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