Aston Villa swapped Douglas Luiz to Juventus this summer in exchange for Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea, and cash, giving the Bianconeri one of the most talented defensive midfielders in the world as part of their plan to overhaul the position.
Juventus remain keen on adding Teun Koopmeiners to a talented group that already contains Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, and Luiz, and they have to be satisfied so far with the foundation they have given new manager Thiago Motta.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa made a major midfield signing of their own this summer in Amadou Onana, as well as signing English veteran Ross Barkley from Luton Town.
But they may be coming away quite disappointed with the returns on the Douglas Luiz transfer, which was, in truth, a move forced on them by the Brazilian midfielder due to his desire to leave for a new challenge.
Aston Villa effectively sent one of their best players to a team that played worse than them in the 2023/24 season, and, in exchange, they acquired two unproven talents who aren’t among Juve’s best young players and didn’t seem to have a future at the club already.
Italian reporter Mirko Nicolino says that Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is unimpressed with either Enzo Barrenechea or Samuel Iling-Junior and has them outside the bubble of the main squad with a loan move possible for both players.
Barrenechea had already spent the 2023/24 season on loan from Juventus to Frosinone, performing at a level that made it clear he wasn’t ready for the Juventus first team in 2024/25 either.
Fabrizio Romano, on the other hand, is already reporting that Aston Villa have decided to loan Iling-Junior out immediately in order to get regular playing time, basically implying that the Spanish manager doesn’t feel that Iling-Junior is good enough to contribute to the Champions League side in 2024/25.
There are club interested in Iling-Junior, per Fab, and, surely, there would be a handful of clubs interested in signing Barrenechea on loan from Aston Villa if he were to be available, too.
That doesn’t mean Barrenechea and Iling-Junior are flops, but it does show they aren’t ready to help yet and also raises questions as to why Aston Villa agreed to take those two players in a swap for Douglas Luiz.
Aston Villa wanted Matias Soule but were unable to swing a deal for him, as Soule ended up joining Roma for around 30 million euros, which, by the way, is noticeably less than the market value of Luiz anyway.
Meanwhile, Juventus are still shopping Federico Chiesa around, and you have to wonder if Aston Villa could have signed him instead of Iling-Junior and Barrenechea if they were willing to wait Juve out just a little bit longer.
