Djemba-Djemba signs in

Last updated : 12 January 2007 By Tony Scholes
There was an air of anticipation this morning that there was about to be another new signing announced and the news came just after noon that the former Manchester United midfielder would be swapping one Claret & Blue kit for another.

He's not had the best of times since joining Villa for £1.35 million in the January transfer window two years ago. He made his debut at the beginning of February, coming on as a substitute for Nolberto Solano in a 1-1 draw at Fulham, but his chances have been limited at Villa Park and he's featured in only eleven games for them with just four of them starts.

This season started with him on the bench and he came on as a late substitute for Luke Moore in their opening day of the season game against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, but he's not featured since.

Prior to joining Villa he'd been with Manchester United, and Sir Alex Ferguson paid £3.5 million to Nantes for his services in the summer of 2003. He played twenty times in the Premiership for them, and in cup competitions he scored twice, in a Champions League win over Panathinaikos and the winner in a League Cup tie at Leeds.

He also played at Turf Moor during his time at Manchester United, he was in their side that beat us 3-1 in Stan Ternent's testimonial game in August 2004. Now he'll be seeing quite a bit of Turf Moor over the next few months and fans will be hoping to see him a week tomorrow when we entertain Norwich.

Before that he could make his debut at St. Mary's tomorrow when the Clarets take on Southampton. He's currently on his way to Hampshire to join his new team mates after leaving the Villa training ground this lunchtime. He'll wear the number 18 shirt for Burnley that was vacated this week when Micah Hyde departed for Peterborough United.

Steve Cotterill was delighted to complete the signing and said: “He's not played a lot of football but obviously on the back of Micah Hyde leaving we had to move to do something. Eric has a good pedigree and we are hoping that once we get him fit he will be a good addition to the squad for the rest of the season.

“It shows something about the boy's character that he is prepared to drop down from the Premiership to play for Burnley.”