Aston Villa quietly secure transfer masterstroke as Enzo Barrenechea deal goes through

Aston Villa have now seen Enzo Barrenechea’s move to Benfica become permanent.

The Argentine midfielder joined the Portuguese giants on loan from Villa in the summer of 2025.

As of Wednesday 1 July, he is now a Benfica player, with the £13million deal activated ahead of the new season.

Barrenechea never made a senior appearance for Unai Emery’s side, so it would be easy to look at his time on the books as forgettable.

With Douglas Luiz going the other way in 2024, Barrenechea arrived alongside Samuel Iling-Junior, who both failed to make an appearance at Villa Park.

However, the Villans have quietly secured a financial benefit in the deal, as disappointing as it is to see Barrenechea move on without playing a minute.

Enzo Barrenechea deal now looks smart for Aston Villa

In 2024, Villa paid around £6.9million to sign Barrenechea from Juventus, with a further £2.6m possible in bonuses.

Benfica’s agreement was reported to be worth around £12.9m in total, made up of an initial loan fee of roughly £2.6m and a permanent clause worth around £10.3m.

That means Villa have moved on a player who never played for the club for significantly more than the fixed fee they originally paid.

He arrived, went out on loan to Valencia, then moved to Benfica, and now leaves permanently without ever becoming part of Emery’s squad.

At a time in which Villa are under such financial scrutiny, doing such deals does prove beneficial, as much as it does not exactly fit with what the spirit of football is.

Had the circumstances been different, he may have starred, but the Villans will crucially never know.

Barrenechea exit still leaves Aston Villa question

The footballing side of the move is different.

Barrenechea has gone on to play regularly, earn a permanent move, and prove that he is more than capable at a high level.

In another world, he could be starting in midfield for Villa, but being added into a group of Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans, before Amadou Onana joined in the same summer, was always going to be incredibly difficult.

There may still be a small sense of curiosity over whether he could have offered something different, especially across a season in which Villa suffered with injuries - even calling upon a return for Luiz.

Villa have not exactly been able to act 'normally' in terms of recruitment, and have had to find ways around regulations.

Barrenechea was unfortunately a way to do that, and the wonder is whether he could have made it at Villa Park had he been recruited under less unusual circumstances.