The close of the Ligue 1 season brings Jordan Veretout’s loan at Saint Etienne to an end. If one thing is clear from the outspoken midfielder’s many interviews since returning to France, he’s not going to be hugely keen to go back to Aston Villa and play in the Championship.
Veretout is a very confident footballer and will be expecting widespread interest in his services this summer. Aston Villa will be looking to get as much as possible, likely asking French clubs for up to €10m, which will limit the destinations somewhat.
Joining Aston Villa from Nantes, Veretout is interesting his old club. L’Equipe quote Nantes president Waldemar Kita as saying: “I always said I was interested. I must talk with the coach. He will decide.”
The French newspaper believe another loan is possible for Veretout, with his Villa contract ending in June 2020. That’s not what Villa will want, but it’s unlikely they’d get anything close to €10m from Nantes.
Saint Etienne, Veretout’s loan club, may well be interested, and Bordeaux have been linked too, but Villa will find all those mentioned will look to talk the price down as much as possible.
The last thing Steve Bruce wants is a grumpy Jordan Veretout returning for pre-season training, so sorting out the 24 year old’s future will be a priority. Nantes’ chief Kita has helped kicked things off by publicly declaring interest, and Villa will hope that’s the start of a scramble.
