7500 To Holte - Aston Villa linked to Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout: Rumours, news, and updatesVilla Til We Cryhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46611/7500-fave.png2015-08-04T11:00:02+01:00http://7500toholte.sbnation.com/rss/stream/88169902015-08-04T11:00:02+01:002015-08-04T11:00:02+01:00Veretout: the fan scouting report
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<figcaption>Mike Heavey/Aston Villa</figcaption>
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<p>We asked Nantes and Aston Villa fan Mike Schwartz a bit about Jordan Veretout, a player he's watched for years. </p> <p>One of my favorite parts about running this site is the connection that we get to make with other Villa fans. Nobody watches the game with more passion than do we fans, and we all have years of knowledge built up. So I absolutely jumped at the chance to hear from one of our readers who has spent the past few years watching Jordan Veretout play for FC Nantes.</p>
<p>Mike Schwartz, who can be found on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ripcityvillan">@RipCityVillan</a>, is that rare breed of fan that I have literally seen no other examples of: he supports both Aston Villa <em>and</em> Nantes. You can read about how he got into the latter here, but Mike offered to give us his take on our new French Jordan. Oh wait, that's not specific enough. His take on Veretout. So we sent him a few questions. Below, you'll find his answers.</p>
<p><strong>7500: After getting to watch Veretout at Nantes, what would you say his biggest strengths are?</strong></p>
<p>Mike: As the latest big-time product of "la Jonelière", Nantes' famed (it <em>should</em> be more well known outside of France) academy, the first strength Jordan brings to Villa is his pedigree. Jordan is the next in line from the school that produced such midfielders as Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé, and Jérémy Toulalan, and was an integral part of France's U-20 World Cup victory in 2013, starting in the midfield next to the likes of Geoffrey Kondogbia and Paul Pogba. The difference between Veretout and his Jonelière counterparts is that he's not by any means defense-first. Jordan is an emerging box-to-box mid, and when he's at his best - especially considering his body type - can remind you much more of a prototypical English #8 à la Gerrard, Lampard, or - dare I say - James Milner. He's obviously not at that level yet. At 22, however, Jordan has excellent vision in traffic and can find teammates in space with his feet and head. He is extremely dangerous with his head up and the ball at his feet, and while he can appear unremarkable for large chunks of the match, he'll pop up in an important spot and spark a counter and/or create a chance from nothing.</p>
<p><strong>I've heard a lot about his set-piece ability. Is Veretout the answer to one of Villa's longest-lasting problems?</strong></p>
<p>He very well could be, if Sherwood gives him the opportunity. It will be interesting to see how Jordan is handled; He joined the Nantes academy in 2003, at 10 years old. I'm used to him being "the kid". Now, he's a shiny new signing from abroad, a very different role. Villa's squad is as flush with creative talent as it's been since the MON era, but it's also a young squad, so I don't think Jordan will lose out on opportunities due to seniority. At his best, he fills up the offensive stat sheet with crosses, successful dribbles, key passes, and assists. Jordan is right footed but solid with both, and I can absolutely see him taking free kicks, especially in close-range crossing situations. He is also extremely cool and collected from the PK spot.</p>
<p><strong>Most everything I've read says that Veretout is not the finished product that Idrissa Gueye is. What does he still have to work on?</strong></p>
<p>At 22, Veretout is by no means a finished product, especially in a position as demanding as central midfield. Idrissa Gueye is older (25), more settled (as a defensive midfielder), and has played the equivalent of a full season more than Jordan, all the while at Lille, a perennial top-of-the-table contender. Most of Veretout's development, by consequence, occurred while Nantes were mired in Ligue 2 and playing manager roulette; the current manager, Michel Der Zakarian, is himself in his second tour of duty in five years. So in that way, Veretout is coming from a much more volatile setup. Randy Lerner looks mindful and stable next to Waldemar Kita, whose bright idea for rescuing the club from Ligue 2 was signing Sylvain Wiltord, Bruno Cheyrou, and a host of journeymen. What that all lead to was a lack of direction for the young starlet.</p>
<p>Stuck in a Milner-esque quandary of "is he a winger or central midfielder, and if so, is he defensive", Veretout finally found some stability in the last two years at Nantes, and needs to continue that momentum at Villa in order to reach his potential. Jordan needs to work on not disappearing from matches; when he's on the ball, he is alert and looking for opportunities, but when the game moves away from his side of the field, he tends to drift out of the action. In addition, he will need to adjust to the speed and physicality of the Premier League, versus the more tactical approach of Ligue 1. Jordan's first touch isn't always as soft as he'd like, but the French game allows a bit more space and time to collect the ball compared to the in-your-face English style.</p>
<p><strong>You're Tim Sherwood: where do you play Veretout to get the best out of him?</strong></p>
<p>The English media has been unfairly comparing Veretout to Tom Cleverly. The latter plays a more advanced role, more where I would expect to see Ayew, Grealish, and/or Gil, whereas Veretout <em>gets</em> forward, he doesn't start there. <a href="http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/7/29/1438166026690/ab98e8c0-cc56-4f9d-894e-448163fa7fda-620x457.jpeg?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=bab5b5bee9dcc608aa64c0ccda9ce215">The </a><a href="http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/7/29/1438166026690/ab98e8c0-cc56-4f9d-894e-448163fa7fda-620x457.jpeg?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=bab5b5bee9dcc608aa64c0ccda9ce215"><em>Guardian</em></a><a href="http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/7/29/1438166026690/ab98e8c0-cc56-4f9d-894e-448163fa7fda-620x457.jpeg?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=bab5b5bee9dcc608aa64c0ccda9ce215"> came out with a graphic last week</a> that - for me - nailed it on the head. Sherwood should play Jordan on the right side of central midfield, the Milner to Gueye's Gareth Barry.</p>
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<p>Thanks to Mike for taking the time to answer our questions!</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/2015/8/4/9092533/aston-villa-jordan-veretout-scouting-report-nantedRobert Lintott2015-07-31T15:14:13+01:002015-07-31T15:14:13+01:00Veretout deal made official
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<p>Despite efforts from Leicester City to scuttle the deal, Aston Villa have finally made official the signing of FC Nantes' Jordan Veretout.</p> <p>After what seems like forever (thanks to an attempt by <a href="https://fosseposse.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Leicester City</a> to derail the deal) but was in fact only about three days, <a href="https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Aston Villa</a> have finished the signing of FC Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">TRANSFER NEWS: Big hello to our new signing Jordan Veretout. Story here: <a href="http://t.co/KlJwrfNXbn">http://t.co/KlJwrfNXbn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AVFC?src=hash">#AVFC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WelcomeJordan?src=hash">#WelcomeJordan</a> <a href="http://t.co/d32eBCOFqf">pic.twitter.com/d32eBCOFqf</a></p>
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/627119742449532929">July 31, 2015</a>
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<p>The deal, rumoured to be for something in the €10 million range, means that Aston Villa now have the ability to put out a pivot central midfield of Idrissa Gueye and Veretout. Given the fact that Gueye is a bit more defensively minded and Veretout wants to attack (though both are accomplished box-to-box types), this seems to mean that Sherwood has found both his <span>Fabian Delph</span> and <span>Tom Cleverley</span> replacements.</p>
<p>Veretout, who has signed a five-year contract, is a pacy midfielder who is a creative asset and who isn't afraid to go in on goal. He's got potential in spades, and even though he has some rough edges he could be a player that Villa can either build around or turn around and sell for a big profit.</p>
<p>If other rumours are to be trusted, this could be just one (after Jordan Ayew and Jose Angel Crespo) of five signings this week. One or both of <span>Emmanuel Adebayor</span> and Rudy Gestede are expected to join the Villa striker corps soon as well.</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumors/2015/7/31/9073337/aston-villa-transfer-news-jordan-veretout-nantesRobert Lintott2015-07-30T21:47:37+01:002015-07-30T21:47:37+01:00Veretout to have medical tomorrow
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<p>Plenty of us were expecting to sign Jordan Veretout today, but this is still good news. </p> <p>Pictures surfaced earlier today of a player or person at Villa Park who plenty of us (myself included) thought was Jordan Veretout holding up an <a href="https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Aston Villa</a> kit. That's it, then, it's done and dusted. We all just settled in to wait for the announcement.</p>
<p>It turns out that we may have been a bit quick to jump to that conclusion if Sky Sports are to be trusted:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING NEWS: Sky Sources - Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout to have medical at Aston Villa tomorrow <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SSNHQ?src=hash">#SSNHQ</a></p>
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/626853827464069122">July 30, 2015</a>
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<p>Ugh. So you mean we may have to wait THREE days between signings? Come on, Aston Villa. Who are we? <a href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Liverpool</a>? Good heavens.</p>
<p>All sarcasm and kidding aside, this is definitely good news. Whether Veretout signs today, tomorrow, or Saturday is pretty inconsequential in the bigger picture. He looks to be a really good player that Villa can help build a midfield around and it looks as if he <i>will</i> be joining us from Nantes. That's all that matters.</p>
<p>That said, I wouldn't mind if Villa signed him sooner rather than later. But that's because I'm an impatient transfer junkie.</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/2015/7/30/9076063/aston-villa-transfer-rumour-jordan-veretout-nantesRobert Lintott2015-07-28T19:43:57+01:002015-07-28T19:43:57+01:00Leicester may be trying to scuttle Veretout deal
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<p>According to French reports, Leicester have outbid Aston Villa for Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout. </p> <p>We heard late last night that Aston Villa had entered a €10 million bid for FC Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout. If twitter was to be believed today, that bid had been accepted and the consummation of the deal was nothing more than a matter of finishing the paperwork. But new reports from France suggest that Leicester may be trying to scuttle the deal:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Per <a href="https://twitter.com/RMCsport">@RMCsport</a> Leicester have offered between €13m & €14m for Nantes' Jordan Veretout. Bid higher than <a href="https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Aston Villa's</a>. <a href="https://t.co/CXEACDmnEn">https://t.co/CXEACDmnEn</a></p>
— Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jon_LeGossip/status/626095916299255808">July 28, 2015</a>
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<p>Well then, that's interesting. If the reports earlier that a bid had been accepted were true, this doesn't make much sense. If Nantes were willing to accept €10 million why would Foxes pay more than that? Nantes, of course, would be free to accept both bids and let the two English clubs war over personal terms with Veretout, but there's no reason why they would hold a higher price to one club than another.</p>
<p>The other obvious possibility is that Nantes had <i>not</i> accepted a bid from Aston Villa and that Leicester are offering more to try and get them to accept.</p>
<p>Or, there is the third option: Leicester have not bid.</p>
<p>At this point we should probably just wait for some better information. If you want to go on what we have, the press have basically spent the day reporting this deal as finished, so it would be odd to see it ended at this point. Regardless, the Veretout deal seems less "done" than it did a few hours ago. Let's get it finished and then we can talk.</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumors/2015/7/28/9060107/aston-villa-transfer-rumour-leicester-jordan-veretout-nantesRobert Lintott2015-07-28T02:09:52+01:002015-07-28T02:09:52+01:00Veretout fee reportedly €10 million
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<p>According to French newspapers, Jordan Veretout will join Aston Villa from FC Nantes for a fee of €10 million.</p> <p>French newspaper Oueste France <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ouest-france.fr/fc-nantes-jordan-veretout-choisi-aston-villa-3588087">is reporting</a> that <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/">Aston Villa</a> have agreed to a €10 million fee for the transfer of Jordan Veretout from FC Nantes. The report is yet another in<a target="_blank" href="http://7500toholte.sbnation.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumors/2015/7/28/9052949/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumours-nantes-jordan-veretout"> the continuing stream</a> from the French press, and while I'm not ready to say that this is a done deal yet, it seems highly unlikely that we'd be getting this many stories from this many sources if there was nothing there. The €10 million fee is roughly £7.1 million, which is a bargain by Tim Sherwood's Ligue 1 standards this summer.</p>
<p>So what might Villa be getting? As I wrote earlier, Veretout is a box-to-box midfielder somewhat in the mold of Idrissa Gueye. He's a bit more <strike>defensively</strike> attack minded than is Gueye, and can easily get forward, as exemplified by his seven goals and six assists in thirty-six Ligue 1 appearances last year. (Note: when I wrote this last night I said defensively minded but that's because I was tired and miswrote. I've thus changed it to be more accurate) But what really stands out to me in the videos that I can find are his combination of pace and control. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't have <span>Gabby Agbonlahor</span> speed, but he can cut through midfields and defenses with ease when he's not on the ball, and he has great confidence when he <i>does</i> have the ball.</p>
<p>The video below gives a good sampling of his skills, but as always: take it with a grain of salt. It's a highlight video, and that's a format that could make even most of us look good. Look for the skills here rather than any individual highlight.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vyi3BUUoY_o" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One thing that stands out in particular is that he seems awfully skilled at set pieces. That could be a refreshing addition to an Aston Villa team who haven't had that seemingly in living memory!</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumors/2015/7/28/9052997/aston-villa-transfer-rumour-jordan-veretout-nantesRobert Lintott2015-07-28T00:44:35+01:002015-07-28T00:44:35+01:00Villa rumours: All Ligue 1 all the time
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<p>Numerous French sources are linking Aston Villa to FC Nantes' midfielder Jordan Veretout.</p> <p>Multiple French media outlets are reporting that <a href="https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Aston Villa</a> are in somewhere in the process of securing their fourth transfer of the summer from Ligue 1. This time it's Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout. The 22-year-old central midfielder is yet another box-to-box type sort of the in the mold of Idrissa Gueye. In thirty-six Ligue 1 appearances last year he scored seven goals and added six assists to that tally.</p>
<p>The reports are coming from multiple sources and I'll be honest and say that my knowledge of French football is limited enough that I'm not sure how much to trust everything. This could either be multiple sources saying the same thing and thus making it more reliable or it could be one source saying something and everyone else piling on. But anyhow, let's get to the evidence. The most sure of anything is this tweet from French journalist Pascal Praud:</p>
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<p lang="fr" dir="ltr">Jordan Verretout à Aston Villa ? A priori, c'est fait.</p>
— Pascal Praud (@PascalPraud) <a href="https://twitter.com/PascalPraud/status/625778041638227968">July 27, 2015</a>
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<p>Roughly translated that means "Jordan Veretout to Aston Villa? It's done." In addition to being a journalist and the host of a nationally broadcast football radio show, Praud also spent two years as director of communication and marketing at Nantes, so one would think he has some pretty strong connections.</p>
<p>Next up in order of "oh this is a thing" is <a target="_blank" href="http://m.leparisien.fr/sports/football/mercato-le-nantais-jordan-veretout-en-route-vers-aston-villa-27-07-2015-4973813.php">a report from Le Parisien</a> that says VIlla will make a move for Veretout in the next few hours. It also mentions interest from <a href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Liverpool</a> and Tottenham, which gets corroborated (or perhaps is begun) in a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Jordan-veretout-pourrait-quitter-nantes-cet-ete/576993">report from the 26th in L'Equipe</a> that says Veretout is drawing interest from those clubs as well. The L'Equipe report also mentions interest from an unnamed club, who may be Villa, or someone else!</p>
<p>Needless to say, this is all shifting pretty quickly and the English press aren't weighing in much yet. Nevertheless, it's definitely something to keep an eye on. Having Veretout next to Gueye could make for a <i>very</i> potent box-to-box central midfield duo that could probably play one heck of a pivot. And hey, there could be some connection here between these rumours and the sudden bizarre actions of Charles N'Zogbia on twitter. That's purely speculation, but N'Zogbia as a makeweight in a deal between the clubs wouldn't be totally crazy.</p>
<p>We'll let you know if anything else develops.</p>
https://7500toholte.sbnation.com/aston-villa-transfer-news-rumors/2015/7/28/9051761/villa-being-heavily-linked-to-young-midfielder-by-french-mediaRobert Lintott