Aston Villa have brought in Lucas Digne and Philippe Coutinho, both formerly of a European giant, this January transfer window, and they aren’t done yet. The two ex-Barcelona men may well be joined by a multi-time Serie A winner with Juventus. After the reports of a move for Luis Suarez died out, the Atletico Madrid man has now reportedly given his seal of approval to former teammate Steven Gerrard on a move for an international teammate of his, Rodrigo Bentancur, as per John Percy of The Telegraph.
Bentancur to bolster Villa’s squad
Villa Still Looking for Additions
As the January transfer window draws to a close, it would appear that Aston Villa’s transfer business is yet to be completed. Long-time Manchester United target Yves Bissouma was recently approached by the Midlands club only for Brighton to reject a bid in the region of £25 million. The failure to capture Bissouma has seen Steven Gerrard’s attentions turn to out-of-favour Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.
Bentancur is fairly low down the Juventus pecking order under Max Allegri and so leaving the Italian giants in search of more regular football makes sense. With the Uruguayan looking for a move away, the Birmingham club have emerged as a potential destination, and Suarez has reportedly given the man in charge at Villa Park ‘a glowing reference’ on Bentancur. The pair along with the likes of Federico Valverde and Edinson Cavani are at the fore of Uruguay’s current side.
What does this mean for Juventus?
As previously mentioned, Bentancur is struggling for minutes at Juventus, but what would his departure mean for the Bianconeri? The 24-year-old has registered just over 1,000 minutes of Serie A action to date this campaign with a number of players above him in the reckoning for Allegri. After ill-discipline for both the club and the USMNT along with poor form for the former, Weston McKennie was also labelled as on the market a few months back with Tottenham Hotspur very interested. The American has been excellent recently, though, and has quickly become one of the first names on the team sheet for the Old Lady.
Along with McKennie in the midfield, there are a number of other options. Arthur Melo, like Bentancur, seems to be on his way out of the club, with Arsenal strongly interested. Elsewhere, Frenchman Adrien Rabiot seems settled despite past issues. Manuel Locatelli is another big player for Juventus – he moved to Turin from Sassuolo after thriving in the spotlight of the Euros last summer. The Italian has had an up-and-down start to life with Juve but there is certainly promise there. The future of Aaron Ramsey remains unknown with the Welshman also having been linked to Villa just like Bentancur.
It remains to be seen how hard Villa are pushing for Bentancur but we will soon find out either way.
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