Enzo Barrenechea will have Unai Emery second guessing Aston Villa call – here’s why
Aston Villa are going to turn a profit on Enzo Barrenechea despite him never being seen at Villa Park.
Signed in a deal worth a reported £6.7million from Juventus in the summer of 2024, Barrenechea was always going to be a project player.
Aston Villa inked him to a five-year contract at Villa Park, evidently showcasing some long-term belief in the Argentine midfielder.
However, the 24-year-old has not yet kicked a competitive ball in anger as a Villa player, having spent the duration of last season with Valencia before once again being loaned out for the 2025-26 campaign, this time to Benfica.
And, after already surpassing the 15 appearances required to trigger a £10m move to the Portuguese giants, he’s not going to be returning to the West Midlands from his loan spell.
Enzo Barrenechea has been excellent for Benfica this season
So, whilst Villa chiefs will be happy to turn a profit on a player that has never made an appearance for the club, the may not wish to celebrate just yet.
In the grand scheme of things, £3.3m isn’t a whole lot of money for the Villans, and with how Barrenechea has been performing for Benfica this season, they could be missing out on a lot more than that down the line.
He’s started 18 of his 19 Liga Portugal appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side this season, with the team currently sitting third in the Portuguese top flight.
As per Sofascore, the central midfielder has registered a superb 91 per cent passing accuracy in Liga Portugal this term, but an even better 92 per cent from his 13 Champions League games.
He’s completed 71 per cent of his dribbles successfully in the Champions League, as well as winning 70 per cent of his ground duels and 64 per cent of his aerial ones respectively.
Barrenechea has two Liga Portugal Team of the Week inclusions this season, and has made just one error leading to a shot.
The Argentine ran the show against Newcastle in the Champions League back in October last year, and was by far and away Benfica’s best player at St James’ Park that night despite being on the end of a 3-0 loss.
- Read more: Aston Villa wrong to let Enzo Barrenechea go after what happened in Benfica loss vs Newcastle
Unai Emery would love Barrenechea in his Aston Villa team now
If there’s one department that Unai Emery would love some extra depth in his Aston Villa side at this moment in time, it would be in midfield.
Injuries to Boubacar Kamara, Harvey Elliott, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn respectively have severely limited his options, and so Barrenechea would have a great chance of playing a big role at Villa Park right now.
Alas, that ship has already sailed, as Benfica look set to steal Villa’s future riches on the midfielder, who only appears to be improving in Portugal.
Still, with Douglas Luiz surely well on his way to triggering a permanent deal this summer, with the likes of Kamara and Tielemans to return and Amadou Onana consistently excellent, Emery may not lose too much sleep over it.
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