He'll face a lot of competition for places at Villa, but if they get a run in the CL there will no doubt be opportunities for game time. From Villa's perspective the deal was fairly reasonable, supposedly only costing them £13 million (which if true is a net cost of just £8 million given they sold him to Hull for £5 million). The only reason he would have chosen us over Villa is potentially more game time, and even that is not guaranteed.