Tanzania striker Mbwana Samatta has confirmed he will remain at Aston Villa for the new Premier League season after helping the club to stay up.
Jack Grealish’s late goal, coupled with Watford’s 3-2 defeat at Arsenal, was ultimately good enough for Aston Villa to avoid relegation from the top-flight in the final day of EPL action.
The battle to avoid the two remaining relegation places went to the wire as Aston Villa scored in the 84th minute, conceded a minute later, then held on for 1-1 draw at West Ham to survive.
West Ham had already secured their own Premier League place for 2020-21 with a draw at Manchester United on Wednesday and end the season in 16th.
Samatta, who struggled for form since the return of football - after impressing in his early stints with goals against Bournemouth and Manchester City, signed for Aston Villa in January - and came into the side for Brazilian Wesley Moraes who fell to injury at the start of the year.
The Taifa Stars captain has now taken to his social media pages to thank God for helping Villa to stay up and went on to confirm he will be at the club for the new season.
“I want to thank God for giving me another chance to play in the Premier League for another season,” Samatta wrote on his social media pages.
“I also want to thank all those fans who were behind me, and kept praying for Villa to stay up so that you can see me again in the Premier League.”
Samatta, an £8.5million January signing from Genk, barely had time to get settled in his new surroundings before the season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, he was able to write history by becoming the first player from Tanzania to play in the Premier League.
Samatta scored only one goal in 14 appearances leading to Birmingham Live reporting that the attacker could be granted a quick exit route from the club at the end of the season.