Villa complete signing

Aston Villa have officially completed the free signing of veteran striker Chris Sutton today.

Speaking to the official Villa website the former Blackburn and Chelsea forward said: "Hopefully I can fit in fairly well and knowing Stilian Petrov and Didier Agathe will obviously help."

"I don't feel I've got a point to prove. I just want to do well. First and foremost I want to get fully fit and get into contention. I'll hopefully do that sooner rather than later and the aim is to soon be pushing for a starting place.

"Obviously I want to be fit as soon as I can. I had an operation a while back and I'm still recovering from that. I'm really looking forward to returning to action and the sooner I can get back to full fitness."

Manager Martin O'Neill added: "I'm really pleased that Chris has come to join us. I obviously know him from Celtic and know what he's capable of.

"It's my own view that he didn't do himself justice at Birmingham City because of injury and it was a situation that forced him into seriously thinking about his playing future.

"But he decided to persevere and he's worked very hard to get himself back to full fitness before committing himself to a new club.

"He's come through a rigorous medical completely unscathed and a fit Chris Sutton will definitely add strength to the squad."