Enzo Barrenechea has no long-term future at Aston Villa amid Fabrizio Romano loan update
Bryan King has suggested Enzo Barrenechea might not have a long-term future at Aston Villa.
The ex-Villa scout claims the 23-year-old midfielder will be keen to play regular first-team football this season.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano via X (29 August), Barrenechea’s potential loan switch to La Liga outfit Valencia is still on.
Barrenechea arrived at Villa Park this summer along with Samuel Iling-Junior as part of the deal which saw Douglas Luiz move to Juventus.
However, King – speaking exclusively to Villa News – feels that Unai Emery might have already made up his mind about the player.
“As I’ve said before, footballers need to play,” King said.
“Whether it is to prove to Villa that they’re wrong not to include him, or to prove to himself that he is capable of playing regularly.
“It appears as though the only way to do that will be for him to go out on loan. If Emery isn’t making any moves to keep him at the club, then that seems to be the writing on the wall that he won’t be part of Villa’s future.”
Enzo Barrenechea to leave Aston Villa permanently
It seems absurd that Villa could already be thinking about letting Barrenechea go permanently so soon after the midfielder arrived at the club.
However, it is also quite strange that they’re allowing the player to leave on loan. With Iling-Junior, the decision to send him on a season-long loan to Bologna (via Aston Villa’s official website, 27 August) makes more sense.
Iling-Junior is still only 20 years old and perhaps needs some more experience under his belt.
However, Barrenechea is already 23.
Therefore, it seems odd that Emery doesn’t have any interest in including him in the first-team, and does perhaps suggest that there isn’t much room for the Argentine at Villa Park, despite only arriving recently.
In other Aston Villa news, the club have been backed to hijack a transfer for Ivan Toney.
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