Aston Villa’s £20.8m Rodrigo Bentancur bid turned down by Juventus
Aston Villa have had a €25m (£20.8m) bid for the midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur turned down by Juventus. They were offering a guaranteed €20m with the rest in add-ons but the Italian club are demanding more because of a sellon clause with Bentancur’s previous club, Boca Juniors.
Bentancur, a Uruguay international, joined Juventus from Boca in 2017 and has continued to be a regular this season, starting five of the club’s six Champions League group games and 13 matches in Serie A.
Villa have been among the Premier League’s most active clubs in the transfer window, their acquisition of the defender Calum Chambers from Arsenal on Thursday taking to four the players signed since Steven Gerrard took over as manager. Lucas Digne, Philippe Coutinho and Robin Olsen have also been brought in.
Bentacur is with Uruguay for their World Cup qualifiers and started Thursday’s win in Paraguay. The team are at home to Venezuela on Tuesday so any medical would have to take place in South America.
Juventus are monitoring Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Denis Zakaria and Cagliari’s Nahitan Nández, another Uruguay international, as targets if they sell a midfielder.
Crystal Palace are continuing to push to bring Donny van de Beek on loan from Manchester United. The clubs are discussing salary coverage and a loan fee, with Patrick Vieira keen to sign the midfielder. There would be no option for Palace to buy the Netherlands international.
West Brom have signed Andy Carroll until the end of the season. The 33year-old striker was a free agent after his deal at Reading ended this month.