LONDON: Aston Villa have signed defender Matty Cash from Championship (second-tier) side Nottingham Forest for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club said on Thursday. British media said that Villa, who finished 17th in the English top flight last season, had paid an initial 14 million pounds ($18.62 million) to Forest, with that figure likely to rise to 16 million pounds with add-ons. Cash later tweeted here that he had signed a five-year contract, adding that joining Villa was “something I’ve always dreamed of since I was a young boy”. The 23-year-old, Forest’s player of the year in the 2019-20 season, made more than 120 league appearances for the club after initially playing in an attacking role before switching to the right back position. “We are delighted to welcome Matty to Villa and believe we have secured one of England’s brightest young prospects,” Villa boss Dean Smith said in a statement here.