By Graham Hill
VILLA have officially announced the £3million signing of Kortney Hause from Wolves.
Hause spent the second half of last season on loan at Villa Park and impressed despite suffering an injury during the club’s charge towards the play-offs.
The England Under-20 and 21 international is a versatile defender and boss Dean Smith was quick to insist that he wanted Hause on a permanent deal before the season had finished.
Now Hause has been unveiled by the club as Villa’s latest signing.
A Villa statement read: “Aston Villa have taken up the option to permanently transfer Kortney Hause from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“The 23-year-old, who has represented England at Under-20 and Under-21 level, becomes the club’s fourth signing since winning promotion to the Premier League.”
Hause is not the most high profile signing of the summer for Villa, but Smith knows he needs strength and reliability at the back for their forthcoming return to the Premier League.
The player was loaned out by Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo even though it left the Portuguese manager with a slim looking squad at Molineux.
But Smith saw value there and has not sent Hause back to Wolves even though Villa are aiming for more expensive targets now that their promotion has been confirmed.
That means two of the three key loan figures from last season have been snapped up.
It just leaves Villa still trying to secure an exit from Bournemouth for the £15million rated Tyrone Mings.
Mings is keen on a return to Villa Park on a permanent basis but the two clubs are still trying to thrash out a deal.
Villa Roar 