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Charles N'Zogbia has revealed that he prefers to play on the right, aims to qualify for Europe with Aston Villa and harbours ambitions of being on the French team plane to Brazil in 2014.

N'Zogbia spoke with The New York Times during a recent international break and showed his appreciation for the size of the boots he had to fill following the exits of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing.

By Paul Wilkes, editor of LaLigaUK

The philosophy of a football club will determine the immediate goals and long-term vision of the club. Within England, this has often been dictated at most sides by the manager. However in recent times as a more continental approach has been inserted by some; others have remained old-fashioned.

Aston Villa have finalised a £9.5m deal for Wigan's French International midfielder Charles N'Zogbia, in what looks like a great piece of business from manager Alex McLeish who has seen both Ashley Young and Stuart Downing exit Villa Park for Old Trafford and Anfield respectively already this Summer.

It's a little over 10 hours to go before the rumour mongers and speculation, erm, spasmos take themselves a much needed break. At least for a fortnight or so, then they'll be back with a vengeance, leading all the way up to the perennially underwhelming January window.

Until then, I thought I'd summarise this summer's movements to date, borrowing from the transfers page, and throw in anything that happens during the course of this afternoon and evening.

So, Liverpool upped their offer to £20m, Stewart Downing handed in a formal transfer request and there's not much more that needs saying. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Stewie. Textbook no-brainer.

That's £8m more than we paid Middlesbrough two years ago, but represents a £14m profit in terms of "disposal of player's registration".

The players are Darren Bent, Charles N'Zogbia, Ciaran Clark and Gary Gardner. The fella with the hair and the mic is Lukey Moore from the Football Ramble (no relation to the lazy former Villa striker). The competition is IGN FIFA 12 pro player tournament. The venue is Bodymoor Heath.

The winner is.

Charles N'Zogbia matched Darren Bent's achievement of scoring on his debut in tonight's final pre-season game in Braga; a 1-1 draw that would probably be given to the home side on points by the judges. If we did such a thing.

Vagner Love's stunt double, Alan, opened the scoring for the home side with a wicked effort from 25 yards that nestled the top corner and left Shay Given no chance.

It's a pretty rare event that we'll receive official confirmation of an agreement being reached to purchase a player before the actual transfer itself is announced, but that's apparently the situation with Charles N'Zogbia. It's all over bar the shouting.

I'm sure such steps wouldn't have been taken if it wasn't a formality, it's just a shame that the player won't have the chance to hook up with his new team mates in Hong Kong due to a lack of work visa.

Since Roberto Martinez took over the reins at Wigan Athletic in 2009, there has always been one stand-out performer who leads from the front, keeps the team up and consequently leaves for a bigger club.

Before Roberto Martinez's new side kicked a ball, he had to find a man to replace the hugely influential Antonio Valencia who joined Manchester United for around £16 million, after rejecting the chance to join Real Madrid in January.

It's official then, Charles N'Zogbia is a Villan. I'd assumed that it wouldn't be completed, or at least officially announced, until after the weekend since just about everyone is in Hong Kong at the moment, but I guess it really was just a formality in the end.

It looks like N'Zogbia is going to have the number 10 shirt, the same number he had at Wigan, left behind by John Carew.