Burnley complete the signing of former Manchester United youth ace — said to be quicker than Marcus Rashford

The 20-year-old striker shared his news on Instagram after making the move from Ligue 1 side OGC Nice.

The Waterford-born forward, who has represented the Republic of Ireland at Under 16 level, had been on a season-long loan at SPL outfit Kilmarnock, but was recalled by his parent club in France having made just two appearances from the bench.

In 2019 Sotona was said to be the quickest player on Manchester United’s books, recording a top speed of 22.9 miles-per-hour to eclipse the likes of England international Marcus Rashford, Dan James and Diogo Dalot.

Sotona, who became his nation’s Under-14 sprint champion while aged only 12, was also compared to 13-time Premier League winner and two-time Champions League winner Ryan Giggs.

He becomes the third striker to sign for the club this month, joining South Africa star Lyle Foster and Swansea City’s Michael Obafemi, who has initially made the switch on loan.

Speaking about the competition for places, with joint leading scorer Jay Rodriguez, Ashley Barnes and Brentford youngster Halil Dervisoglu still a part of the group, boss Vincent Kompany said: “Yeah we have competition but everybody is on a different timescale, I think we have five players on loan and the worst moment to fill the void is at the start of a season so we have tried to anticipate a little bit and so we have to see the bigger picture.

"We didn't really have huge needs for this winter and for now but I have been in the game long enough to know that by the summer we will be having loads of expectations on the squad and it is better to work with them a little bit earlier. That is why it doesn't matter if the numbers are a little bit bigger.”