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A couple of days ago, during a press conference to present his new manager Claudio Ranieri, Waldemar Kita, the club’s president, also touched upon the potential return of Aston Villa midfielder Jordan Veretout.

At the time, the only snipper that had filtered through was that he had said his former starlet ‘needed time to think about it’, but that ultimately he didn’t think he would accept the offer.

However, there was a bit more to all that, with Kita actually questioning the Aston Villa midfielder’s ambitions, having a dig at him for potentially wanting to stay at Villa Park in the Championship.

He said: “Veretout interests me a lot, but he needs time to make a decision. I don’t think you can make a manager like Claudio Ranieri wait. I think you just say yes or no, but you don’t make him wait. I would’ve like him here, so did the manager. I can’t do anything anymore.

“It’s now down to the player’s desire. If Veretout has the intention to start the new season with Aston Villa, his second division club… if that’s his personal ambition, then good for him!”

After reading that, it might not come as much of a surprise that Jordan Veretout didn’t take too kindly to his former club president’s words, and spoke to 20minutes in France about it on Wednesday.

He said: “I’m really disgusted by what he said. After all I did and the respect I have for them, I find that a bit much and disgusting. Nantes got a nice sum of money when I went to Aston Villa… I think that everyone was happy at the time.

“I spent 12 years at the club. I never had problems. I’ve always talked Kita up in interviews. Always sid nice things. I don’t get with he thinks that if you win a lot of money, you lose your hunger. For me, money isn’t the goal. It’s important, yes, but what the club offers is even more so”.

The player also revealed he spoke to Claudio Ranieri two weeks ago, which is when he told him that he needed time to think, as well as having a phone call with Kita himself on Monday afternoon, just before the press conference.

The Aston Villa midfielder said the club president ‘couldn’t understand’ why he needed time to think, and that his decision to mull things over was clearly seen as a ‘no’, when that wasn’t the case.

Admitting it was now ‘far more difficult’ for him to return to Nantes, when that should never have been the case, Veretout doesn’t understand where all this dislike has come from.

As for his future at Villa Park under Steve Bruce: “I belong to Aston Villa. I have three years left with them. I can’t just do what I want. I am obliged to return there for preseason unless I sign somewhere else. What he said was a bit much. Everyone knows I don’t want to stay there”.

Guess that’s that, then.

No Nantes return for Veretout.