With the season quickly coming to an end, more and more speculation is creeping into articles.
In France, a lot of the attention has turned towards Jordan Veretout, who has enjoyed a very solid season on loan from Aston Villa at Saint-Etienne, scoring four goals and picking up four assists in 36 appearances in all competitions.
Of course, Les Verts would love to keep him beyond this season, but Dr Tony Xia is likely to make that very difficult for them, mostly due to the club’s asking price.
Bought for £8.5m from Nantes in 2015, Veretout’s good season means Aston Villa are in a position to at least ask for their money back from any interested club, and, as we have explained previously, considering Saint-Etienne’s record purchase is more than £2m below that, a permanent transfer seems unlikely.
So where next for the Aston Villa midfielder?
Well, there’s always the option of continuing his career at Villa Park.
Steve Bruce’s trip to Old Trafford when Manchester United were facing Saint-Etienne suggests the manager at least has some interest in trying to convince Veretout to stay in the Midlands next season.
Unfortunately for him, the player’s reluctance to play Championship football during the current campaign means doing so next year probably isn’t going to happen either.
The club’s owner has also expressed his desire to offer a project capable of convincing his best players to remain at the club, but with Veretout having enjoyed European football this year with Saint-Etienne, his future will probably unfold somewhere else.
The question here is: Where exactly?
A return to France would offer limited options.
A loan is one thing, but a permanent transfer would require a club willing to pay similar wages to what he is on at Villa Park, and there aren’t many around.
Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco already have better players in their squad, while a move to Lyon is completely ruled out by the fact they are Saint-Etienne’s bitter rivals.
Looking at the teams in Ligue 1, there is only one squad both in need of his services and capable of affording him: Marseille.
Following a recent change in owners, the club are keen to bring in some quality, preferably French and with time on their side to field alongside marquee signings Patrice Evra and Dimitri Payet.
Veretout, aged 24, ticks both those boxes, and, with Marseille currently battling for a Europa League spot, could also end up playing very competitive football next season if Rudi Garcia’s team finish 5th or 6th (providing either Monaco or Paris Saint-Germain win the Coupe de France).
What about the Premier League?
Despite Aston Villa getting relegated, Veretout’s only season in England top tier wasn’t a complete write off.
Walking away with five assists from 21 starts, the midfielder also had an impressive 83% pass success percentage, which is higher than this campaign’s 81.6%.
For example, were a team like Crystal Palace to lose one of their midfielders (Yohan Cabaye, for example), picking up a player of Veretout’s ability wouldn’t be a terrible shout.
Averaging more key passes, crosses, and a higher pass success rate than his more experienced compatriot last season, the Aston Villa midfielder was largely hindered by those around him more than anything else.
It will certainly be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.
While we don’t doubt Saint-Etienne and Aston Villa will do everything in their power to keep hold of him beyond this season, our bet is he’ll end up somewhere else.
Whether it’s in France or in the Premier League remains to be seen.
