Enzo Barrenechea has joined Aston Villa as part of the deal which saw Douglas Luiz join Juventus…
Alongside Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea has signed for Aston Villa from Juventus in a deal worth €22m, separate from Douglas Luiz’s €50m transfer to the Italian giants.
Barrenechea is a 23-year-old holding midfielder who has only played five games for Juve’s first-team and spent last season on loan at Frosinone, making 36 appearances in the Serie A. Frosinone were relegated by one point, but Barrenechea impressed throughout what was his first full campaign in senior football.
He moved to Europe as an 18-year-old after coming through the ranks at Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina. He spent only seven months at FC Sion before joining Juventus’ under-19s in January 2020.
Barrenechea made his Juventus debut in the Champions League as he came on as a late substitute in a home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain back in November 2022. A few months later, he established himself as a first-team player and made his league debut in February 2024.
Before making his third Serie A start for Juve on April 1 of last year, Barrenechea was officially promoted to the first-team. But it wasn’t until his loan spell at Frosinone last season that he started to show what he is capable of.
Under the stewardship of Eusebio Di Francesco, Barrenechea repaid the trust his manager showed in him by putting in some excellent performances. Across the season, he attempted 1,903 passes, which was the seventh most of all midfielders in the Serie A, while 160 of those were played into the final third.
He also won 42 tackles, a total bettered by only seven players in the division last term and also recovered the ball 231 times, a tally only two players could at least match. Barrenechea reads the game very well despite his inexperience and can break up play in front of the defence.
Last season, of all under-23 midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, Barrenechea featured in the first percentile for interceptions and the second percentile for long passes, forward passes, progressive passes and aerial duels.
During his time with Frosinone, who have effectively given his senior career in Europe lift-off, Barrenechea left a great impression. His manager there, Di Francesco, said: “He is a true playmaker and has the quality to manage many situations. With his age there are very few of him in Serie A, a championship in which he lacked the experience he is gradually acquiring and training continuously at great intensity.”
Frosinone chairman Guido Angelozzi added Enzo Barrenechea: “For me, he can be in the Juventus squad without a doubt, he has so much quality. Personally, I am in love with Barrenechea, he reminds me of Rijkaard in his AC Milan days.”
Villa, who are without Boubacar Kamara until August at the earliest and who’ll now obviously be without Luiz, were in need of a new face to fill the six position at the base of Unai Emery’s midfield. If the comparisons to a Barcelona great are anything to go by, Villa might have their man in Barrenechea.
“Enzo is a really strong player,” former Juventus under-19 coach Andrea Bonatti concluded. “Characteristics? He is no different from Rodri or Busquets, he is a playmaker and can also play as a midfielder. He has an aerial game, knowledge, covers the pitch well, has great technique, dominance under pressure, play more vertically and now he is much more complete.”
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