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Follow us on Twitter @claretandview // Words by Regan Foy (@FindFoy)
This is a transfer that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It’s understandable that the old regime is being replaced with the new, but Jordan Amavi was a player with the potential to become a quality left-back and there’s nothing wrong with leaving a few remnants of a past dictatorship.
When the young Frenchman first signed from Nice in 2015 for what was believed to be a fee of around 9 million pounds, fans were understandably excited. He was a French youth prospect and with the talent that France had produced in recent years, and the impeding arrival of his national youth team counterpart Jordan Veretout certainly got Villa fans wagging their tongues.
Bruce made a comment recently about Villa having a history of selling their best players and we can only hope that this doesn’t turn out to be an Albrighton kind of transfer. Yes, we’ve received money from the deal, with a £2m loan deal agreed and an £8m buy-fee if Marseille want him at the end of it. That means we’ve made £1m overall from a player we had a £25m offer from not too long ago. Jordan has the ability to grow exponentially and fans should be worried that it’s going to be another case of “he used to play for the Villa, wish we didn’t let him go”.
Jordan is a genuinely nice man on and off the pitch. He connects with fans on Twitter and certainly appreciated the kind comments he received in the time he spent injured during his first season at the club. Of course, on the pitch he made mistakes, but as a young player that is something that is expected.
The signing of Neil Taylor from Swansea didn’t help Amavi’s cause either. In his first season back after injury, Amavi was played more as an attacking option, which made sense due to his pace and ability on the ball, but it didn’t aid in his development as a defender. The signing of Taylor was understandable; with a large foreign core in the squad, Xia and Bruce wanted to remove any disharmony or lack of communication in the dressing room and Taylor filled a hole.
Amavi’s move to Marseille is a sad one, there’s no doubt about it. Whilst some fans were calling for his exit, many believed it to be a bad piece of business. At least it wasn’t as shocking as the exit of Nathan Baker.
A young left-back with prospects as long as giraffe’s neck, Jordan will be sorely missed by the club. As we saw last night, Bjarnason had to cover at left-back which leaves us playing another one of our employees out of position, causing not only frustration for that player, but the ability to make more mistakes in the long run.
We can only hope that letting Jordan Amavi leave isn’t one of those mistakes. Whilst there is the chance that Marseille will not exercise their ability to sign Jordan to a full contract, it does seem that he will flourish more in his home country. As fans, all we know is that he’s leaving, there could have been many more issues behind the scenes.
Interest by big teams from abroad such as Sevilla and Marseille and national teams like Liverpool certainly says something about the quality of player we’re letting go. We can only hope that Steve Bruce has a plan.
Good luck, Jordan, we wish you well.
