Derby County Sign Austrian International Andreas Weimann

Derby County have today completed the signing of Austrian international forward Andreas Weimann from Barclays Premier League side Aston Villa.

The 23-year-old has joined the Rams on a four-year deal after an undisclosed fee was agreed for his services, despite interest from a number of Premier League clubs.

Weimann, capped 13 times by his country at full international level, arrives at Derby with over 100 top flight appearances to his name and further strengthens the options at Head Coach Paul Clement’s disposal.

He is capable of playing in a number of attacking positions and will meet his new team mates for the first time later this month when Derby’s squad report back for pre-season training ahead of the 2015/16 season.

Clement commented: “It goes without saying that we are very pleased to welcome Andreas Weimann to Derby County and we very much look forward to working with him.

“He has a good amount of top flight experience to his name and, at the age of 23, he still has a lot of potential.”

He added: “Andreas is an exciting talent and he will be a positive addition to the squad, along with the recent signings of Darren Bent, Alex Pearce and Scott Carson.”

Born in Vienna, Weimann joined Aston Villa in 2006 from Austrian side Rapid Vienna at the age of 15 after catching the eye of a number of clubs in the Premier League and further afield.

After progressing through their youth and reserve ranks, Weimann stepped up to the first team stage in the 2010/11 season.

He made his first team debut as a substitute in a 3-0 home win over West Ham United in August 2010, followed by another outing off the bench in the Europa League a few days later against, ironically, Rapid Vienna.

In January 2011 he moved to Championship side Watford for the latter part of the season and scored four times in 18 appearances during a successful spell at Vicarage Road. He returned to the Hornets for a brief loan spell in the early stages of the 2011/12 season, making three appearances, before heading back to Villa Park in the September.

During the last three seasons, Weimann featured for Villa’s first team on a regular basis. In total he made 129 appearances for the Villa Park outfit, with his best goalscoring return coming in 2012/13 when he scored 13 times.

On the international stage, Weimann represented Austria at Under 17, Under 19 and Under 21 level before making his full international debut in October 2012 against Kazakhstan in a 0–0 draw. He has since acquired a further 12 caps for his country.

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