Report: Aston Villa submit €20M bid for Rodrigo Bentancur, Juve want more

As Juventus get closer and closer to officially announcing its big January purchase, there is still very much plenty of attention on who could be leaving. That focus, of course, is surrounding the midfield trio who have been rumored to potentially leave this month — Arthur, Aaron Ramsey and Rodrigo Bentancur.

We know things aren’t looking too hot for Arthur’s rumored move to Arsenal. Aaron Ramsey continues to reject everything in sight. So what about Bentancur?

According to Sky Sport Italia transfer oracle Gianluca Di Marzio, Aston Villa have put forward their first official bid to try and sign Bentancur before the end of the January transfer window. The bid is worth €20 million, according to Di Marzio. but it is not all that satisfactory on Juventus’ side of the equation. Juve would like a transfer fee of at least €25 million — which, considering just how few days are left in the transfer window, might not exactly result in some kind of agreement taking place.

Why is €20 million not to Juve’s liking? For anybody who knows the way in which Bentancur was first signed from Boca Juniors, then you know exactly why.

The catch in the complicated Juventus-Boca deal for Carlos Tevez in 2015. Two years later, Juventus signed Bentancur in the summer of 2017, but there’s always been a sell-on clause included, which means Boca Juniors will get a nice chunk of change no matter how much Juve actually sell Bentancur for. Some say the sell-on percentage is 30%, others have said it’s still the 50% portion that was originally part of the deal.

According to Di Marzio and his Sky Sport Italia cohort Fabrizio Romano, Denis Zakaria and Nahitan Nández are the two main names Juventus have identified as replacements if Bentancur (or Arthur or Ramsey) is to leave before the transfer window closes. Romano describes Zakaria as “(Max) Allegri’s favorite option.”