After an impressive season on loan at Valencia, Aston Villa midfielder Enzo Barrenechea has been included in Argentina’s latest senior squad.
La Albiceleste face Chile and Colombia in World Cup qualifiers on June 6 and 11 respectively, and Lionel Scaloni has announced his squad that has been called up for those key clashes.
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As per TNT Sports’ social post, Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has been included, and there was a relative surprise as Barrenechea also makes the cut and will look to make a positive impression to establish himself in the squad moving forward.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a productive loan stint in La Liga this past season, making 34 appearances for Valencia, which in turn would have helped him gain valuable experience at this stage of his career and continue to improve and develop his all-around game.
Having bid farewell to the Spanish side after the campaign concluded, the expectation is that Barrenechea will return to Villa this summer with Unai Emery and his coaching staff hopefully set to assess him in pre-season before making a decision on his future.
It’s a fundamental decision now too as while Barrenechea will likely command a decent fee, which will be very useful for PSR purposes as Villa are expected to need to sell next month to balance our books and avoid any sanctions, he looks a gem of a talent with a bright future ahead of him.
While he impressed during pre-season with us last summer following his move from Juventus, he’s built on that with Valencia, and this call-up from Argentina only further strengthens the case for keeping him, as we could have a top midfielder on our hands who also suits Emery’s system and style of play perfectly.
Competition for places in that department is fierce though with Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley battling it out for minutes, and so unless one of that quartet were to leave in the coming weeks, it’s hard to see how Barrenechea fits in, and that in turn likely makes a move elsewhere more appealing.
Nevertheless, his talent and potential is being appreciated by many at this point, and so it’s a big decision that Villa face over his future, and hopefully we make the right one for our best interests as it would be a shame to see the Argentine midfielder leave before he’s even had a real run at making a breakthrough under Emery.
