Ipswich Town have signed the midfielder Abdoul Ouattara from Strasbourg on a five-year contract, with the fee understood to be around £17m. The 20-year-old Ivorian reunites with manager Gary O'Neil, who was in charge of the Ligue 1 club for the second half of last season before taking over at Portman Road in June.
"The Premier League is the best league in the world and as soon as I knew the opportunity was there, to play in England under a manager I have already enjoyed working with, I jumped at it," Ouattara said. "I am still young but have had some good experiences already and I can't wait to meet the fans and my team-mates and get started."
O'Neil described Ouattara as "a talented young player who can play in different positions, so is a very good addition to our squad," adding: "We enjoyed working with him in France last season and are delighted to have the opportunity to do so again at Ipswich." Ouattara made 45 appearances for Strasbourg in Ligue 1 last season as O'Neil guided the club to eighth place and a Uefa Conference League semi-final, where they were beaten by Rayo Vallecano.
The move takes Ipswich's spending since promotion from the Championship to £124m across eleven major signings, with Ouattara the latest arrival in a squad rebuild that had made the newly promoted side the Premier League's fourth-biggest net spenders as of the start of August, behind only Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, as O'Neil overhauls a squad built by his predecessor Kieran McKenna. Ipswich begin their Premier League campaign at home to Sunderland on 22 August.