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Ligue 1 President confirms interest in Aston Villa 24-year-old
By Aramide Oladipo
Ligue 1 side Nantes are interested in signing Aston Villa midfielder Jordan Veretout, as confirmed by the club’s President.
The Nantes President Waldemar Kita spoke to L’Equipe and he is quoted as saying: “I’ve always said that he’s interested me. I need to talk to the manager about it. He’s the one who’ll decide.”
This news follows the story from the Telegraph where Villa manager Steve Bruce predicted that there would be a huge clear out – Veretout was one of the names mentioned.
The 24-year-old spent eight years with the French side, breaking onto the scene during the 2011/12 season and he went on to make a total of 146 appearances for the club.
Veretout was signed by Aston Villa at the start of the 2015/2016 season under the guidance of former Villa manager Tim Sherwood.
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It was a very hard introduction to life in England for the Frenchman as Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in their history.
Veretout made a total of 25 Premier League appearances that season but he failed to score a single goal or provide an assist.
Following relegation to the Championship, Veretout joined French outfit Saint-Etienne on a season long loan and he was involved in the team that lost to Manchester United in the Europa League earlier this season.
Football Insider verdict
Given that Steve Bruce has already anticipated a lot of players will be leaving the club in the summer, he’ll be delighted that there is a club interested in signing Veretout. The Villa manager would surely want to sort out the deals for all the departing players before concentrating on who he needs to bring in. Veretout enjoyed a successful upbringing at Nantes and despite playing European football with Saint-Etienne this season, he might be tempted to join his former club especially as they currently sit higher in the Ligue 1 table.
In other Aston Villa transfer news, Keith Wyness has confirmed that talks have been held over the possibility of signing this Premier League captain.
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