Aston Villa midfielder Enzo Barrenechea could reportedly depart on loan with Valencia said to be keen on the Argentine ace.
The 23-year-old joined us from Juventus earlier this summer as part of our transfer dealings with the Turin giants that saw Douglas Luiz move in the opposite direction.
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Samuel Iling-Junior also arrived as part of those talks, but he has already secured a season-long loan move to Bologna.
According to Matteo Moretto, Barrenchea could now follow a similar path, as Valencia want the Argentine midfielder on loan, and his preference is to join the La Liga side despite other clubs also showing interest.
Admittedly, it would be disappointing to see him shipped out on loan this season, as it had been hoped that we would see him continue to develop under Unai Emery and be integrated into the squad as a key depth option in midfield.
That said, given he has been unable to break into the matchday squad for our first two Premier League games of the campaign, coupled with the expectation that Boubacar Kamara is set to return to group training next month, he could continue to find it difficult to get minutes.
At this stage of his career, he needs regular playing time to gain invaluable experience, improve and develop his game and ultimately fulfil his potential.
Sitting on the Villa bench, at best, most weeks isn’t going to help that process, and so a loan move does have its merits, albeit it’s certainly hoped that there is no option to buy included in the agreement.
Time will tell what Villa’s strategy was with the Luiz decision, as naturally many fans will be frustrated that we lost a key player and could now send out the two signings who joined us as part of that discussion out on loan.
It could be that Emery feels as though they need the experience before coming back into his plans next summer, or perhaps that Villa feel they could make a profit on their potential future sales and go after another priority, marquee signing next year.
For now though, it remains to be seen if a deal gets done before the transfer deadline on Friday which sees Barrenechea move on temporarily, which in turn could mean that Leander Dendoncker stays on to provide depth behind the likes of Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans and Kamara instead.
