Jaden Philogene says the chance to play regularly was the reason for him making a permanent move to Ipswich Town after Aston Villa opted to sell the winger for £20m just months after signing him from Hull City.

Philogene was the subject of a transfer tug-of-war in the summer when Ipswich pushed hard to sign him from City along with Tigers teammate Jacob Greaves, before Villa swooped in and activated their buy-back clause at the demand of Unai Emery, but the landscape has changed in recent weeks.

Under the terms of that agreement which brought Philogene to City, Villa were able to match any bid accepted by the Tigers, and they opted to do that.

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Since returning to Villa, the England Under-21 international has played just 11 times in the Premier League, nine of which have come off the bench, while he's played three times in the Champions League but has now penned a four-and-a-half year contract at Portman Road; it's understood the Tigers did have a sell-on clause inserted into the deal.

His move to Suffolk increases the former Tigers flavour in McKenna's ranks, with Greaves and Liam Delap influential parts of a squad battling hard to stay in the Premier League in their first season back in the top flight.

"I’m excited to be here and I know there are great players in the squad,” the ex-City star said. "I just want to play as much as possible. As a player I like to dribble and link up play and provide goals and assists. I’m looking forward to it.”

Speaking before the deal was confirmed by both clubs, boss Kieran McKenna explained why he's pushed hard for the second time in six months to sign the 22-year-old.

"Of course, Jaden is a player that we're talking to," he said. "He's a player that we like, who we've tried to bring to the club in previous windows. We think he's got qualities to really fit in here. I think what's really important in all this is that Jaden is really keen to come to the football club. It's been a slightly longer process than we would have wanted, but that's been steadfast within all that.

"Jaden believes in the project here, he's shown a desire to come here - not just now, but in the summer as well. Of course, it's pretty well known that we tried to bring Jaden to the football club in the summer and, again, amongst having the options of quite a lot of well-established Premier League clubs, his expressed desire was to come here.

"It's something that we tried to do. In the end, it wasn't possible with the contractual situation with Aston Villa and he went back to his previous club. He's shown a good desire to be here through the last couple of windows. He's a player that we know well, he's a player that we like and we'd like to bring him to the football club.

"It's a complicated deal for the football club to do, because of course, he's a young player who's just signed a five-year contract at Aston Villa in the summer. That's not an easy deal for Ipswich Town to do. Aston Villa, of course, have to get the best deal possible for their club. The player's representatives, of course, have to get the best deal and make sure the security is right for the player.

"For us, it's very important that every deal we do is right for the now, but also protects and helps the progression of the football club in the longer term."