A couple of days ago French newspaper L’Equipe reported Oscar Garcia had telephoned Jordan Veretout to try and convince the player to sign for Saint-Etienne.
Unsurprisingly, with the Aston Villa player being very headstrong, Garcia didn’t get an answer straight away and was told to wait for a few days.
Veretout didn’t hold out too long, according to Wednesday’s edition of L’Equipe, and Garcia’s persuasion has now been successful.
The player is expected in France in the ‘next few hours’ to complete his transfer from Aston Villa, and join up with ASSE.
L’Equipe report that Veretout will be signing a four year contract with Les Verts, the club 
where he spent last season on loan.
It’s not been revealed how much Saint-Etienne are paying Aston Villa, at least yet, but the French club have just agreed to pay Caen €8m for Yann Karamoh, so haven’t gone into the summer with an empty bank account.
Veretout has already played for Aston Villa during preseason, leaving some fans to hope he could remain for the Championship campaign, but that always seemed unlikely for the midfielder, who has made it clear he’d be against playing in the second tier.
