Aston Villa are in talks with Juventus over the proposed transfer of Rodrigo Bentacur, according to Sky Sports.
Villa were reported to hold a strong interest in Brighton and Hove Albion’s Yves Bissouma, but those negotiations have apparently broken down, and the West Midlands club are now forced to look elsewhere to provide manager Steven Gerrard with a high-quality midfielder he craves. They’ve obviously set their sights higher this time, with the aim of acquiring a player who would represent strong competition for Douglas Luiz.
Bentacur joined Juventus from Boca Juniors in 2017 for a reported fee of just over €15 million. This season, he’s been in and out of Massimiliano Allegri’s lineup, making a total of 19 Serie A appearances so far, 13 of which were starts, while sitting out three league matches out on the bench completely.
Apparently, the Old Lady value the 45-cap Uruguay international at close to €20m, which doesn’t seem too much in today’s market.
However, Villa will likely need to step up their efforts and bring the matter to a close soon. Allegri has already stated quite openly that Aaron Ramsey is likely to leave Turin this month, with Newcastle, Everton and his former club Arsenal reportedly interested. Ramsey has already rejected advances from Burnley.
Speaking of Arsenal, the Gunners want to sign Arthur Melo on loan for the rest of the season and the former Barcelona man is quite keen on moving to North London.
With Ramsey set to leave, there is little chance Juventus will want to lose two more midfielders this month, so it may prove to be a race between the Gunners and Villa to be the first to complete the signing they’re after.
