Aston Villa beat out the San Jose Earthquakes for the signature of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Simon Dawkins, who has played two seasons on loan in MLS.
Spurs and Villa both confirmed the deal near the close of the European transfer window on Thursday.
Quakes brass confirmed last week that they lodged a strong bid to permanently land the Englishman before the 2013 season, but Spurs opted to loan him out for the rest of the current English Premier League season to struggling Aston Villa, a team that features Americans Eric Lichaj and Brad Guzan.
Dawkins resurrected his career in his two years at San Jose, scoring 14 goals in 53 appearances, primarily serving at wide midfield with a penchant for pinching in and scoring goals.
It only helped facilitate the Dawkins loan that the Quakes and Spurs established a formal partnership between the two sides.
READ: Quakes make push for permanent acquisition of Dawkins
Although a summer return by Dawkins is technically possible, San Jose GM John Doyle did not seem overly concerned last week when asked about the scenario of not succeeding in bringing the player back to MLS.
“With or without Simon, I think we can compete for a Supporters’ Shield," Doyle told reporters. "Do we want to add quality? Yeah. Is Simon a quality player? Of course. We’d like to have him, but it’s really not in our hands.”
