In today’s edition of Juventus working to crowbar Douglas Luiz out of Aston Villa, we get to see Weston McKennie exit stage left.
That’s probably to the relief of everyone. Aston Villa fans weren’t enthused by the US international arriving at the club, and the midfielder himself is said to have wanted more than €4m a year after tax and a further €2m in a golden goodbye from Juventus.
Today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport makes it clear the Serie A club don’t want to keep him and he’ll have to move to a Premier League club other than Aston Villa… or turn his eyes to Turkey.
Greed, eh.
On Wednesday evening we covered a brief report from Italy which stated Enzo Barrenechea was being dragged into the deal to replace McKennie. Aston Villa had wanted Matias Soule, but Juve were apparently having none of that as they see him as a way to make cash-money this summer.
Gazzetta say Unai Emery’s side then asked for Dean Huijsen, the young defender, and despite all the Barrenechea noise, that’s one who perhaps shouldn’t be forgotten until the deal is done.
Huijsen is a really interesting profile. The 19-year-old was born in Amsterdam but has chosen to represent Spain at U21 level. He spent the second half of last season on loan at AS Roma and picked up some experience.
Anyway, back to Gazzetta and Barrenechea, it’s stated that after trying for Soule and Huijsen and being told no, Villa were offered the midfielder.
They then paused ‘for a few hours of technical discussion with coach Unai Emery’.
Juventus hope for ‘immediate white smoke’, but ‘are not yet rejoicing’. Aston Villa will make their final decision known today.
There’s a lot of confidence on behalf of Juventus, but we can’t help but feel they’re – again – getting too good a deal here.
Aston Villa were reasonable to ask for either Matias Soule or Dean Huijsen and it seems incredibly fortunate for Juve if they’ve so easily settled for the less valued Enzo Barrenechea.
