By support

27th Dec, 2016 | 1:38pm

Tony Xia: Aston Villa will allow 23-year-old midfielder to leave amid reported Serie A interest

By Will Butcher

Tony Xia has confirmed Villa are willing to allow Jordan Veretout to leave Aston Villa after Juventus were reportedly interested in the midfielder.

Italian football website Calciomercarto claimed that the 23-year-old was interesting the Italian champions, despite currently being on loan at Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne.

Posting on his personal Twitter account, Xia reacted to the potential transfer by suggesting that Veretout would be allowed to leave because he “didn’t feel happy” in the Midlands.

Veretout was disappointing in his first season with the Midlands giants, as Villa were relegated after a woeful Premier League campaign that saw them pick up just 17 points in the top flight.

Along with the likes of Carles Gil and Carlos Sanchez, Veretout was one of the first-team players to leave Villa Park in order to maintain top-tier football.

Signed from Nantes for around £8.5million, the midfielder is now expected to leave the Midlands giants permanently in the near future despite four years still remaining on his current Villa deal.

This season, Veretout has scored once and provided two more in assists during his 21 league and cup encounters this season for Saint-Etienne.

In other Aston Villa transfer news, Xia has also revealed that Villa have rejected a £25million offer for this senior star.