Aston Villa have reportedly reached an agreement in principle to send Enzo Barrenechea on loan to Valencia this season, but the club is said to be reconsidering their options currently.
The 23-year-old midfielder arrived from Juventus earlier this summer, and after making a positive impression in pre-season, it was hoped that he would continue his development under Unai Emery and become an important squad player this year.
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However, after failing to make the matchday squad for our opening two Premier League games of the campaign, it has seemingly led to speculation linking him with a temporary exit.
According to Matteo Moretto, Villa have an agreement in principle in place with Valencia over a season-long loan move for Barrenechea, but he claims that an internal issue at Villa has now led the club to reconsider their options.
It’s unclear at this stage what that issue exactly is, but given it comes shortly after The Telegraph reported that Villa are looking to offload Leander Dendoncker before the transfer deadline, it could be that an exit for the Belgian international could in turn see us keep Barrenechea in the group as midfield depth instead.
On one hand, a loan move would be beneficial for Barrenechea in order for him to play regularly, gain experience and ultimately develop and improve his game with a prominent role at a high level.
That in turn would hopefully set him up well to stake his claim at Villa from next summer onwards, rather than be restricted to a bit-part role with us this season off the bench, or perhaps continuing to fail to make the squad, particularly with Boubacar Kamara returning from injury to rejoin group training next month.
That said, he could also be a useful option for Emery to have at his disposal, especially if Dendoncker can be moved on, as the Argentine ace has the qualities to give us presence and control in midfield, which are of course two key principles in Emery’s preferred style of play.
Time will tell what the outcome of this situation is, but if Villa are able to shift Dendoncker before the deadline, that would arguably be the ideal solution as ultimately the 29-year-old isn’t expected to have an important role to play having been shipped out on loan by Emery last season.