The two sides chasing his signature finished the campaign bookending the Premier League table.
Jordan Veretout
Jordan Veretout has suggested that he does not regret his decision to join Aston Villa instead of Leicester City last summer despite the campaigns that both sides went on to have, the Birmingham Mail reports.
The midfielder cost the Villans £8m (via Daily Mail), but he was unable to make a major impression during his time at Villa Park as the club were ultimately relegated after putting up a fairly dismal fight.
Aston Villa were relegated from the top flight
Meanwhile, the Foxes went on to stun everyone by winning the title. And while a move to the King Power Stadium would have seen the Frenchman – who has since completed a loan move to Saint-Etienne – enjoy an incredibly different season, he suggested that he does not wish that he had taken the other option on the table as no-one could have imagined what Leicester would go on to achieve.
“Initially there was Aston Villa. I received an offer and I went to Birmingham to meet with the leaders,” he said, as reported by the Mail.
“When Leicester knew about it, coach Claudio Ranieri called me and said, ‘Well, Jordan, I know you. I saw you at work when I was coaching Monaco and I’d like you to join us in Leicester’.
“It’s just life … I experienced the Premier League with Villa, and although it did not go well personally, I played my season with 29 matches. Of course I would have preferred to be first rather than last, but it’s like that.
“Who would have thought last summer that Leicester would have such a season?”
Given the struggles that Veretout endured at Villa – though, they were, of course, not entirely his fault – it is difficult to imagine that he would have played as much in Claudio Ranieri’s side as he did for the club he ended up joining.
Ranieri rarely tinkered with his team selection last season, and so it is difficult to imagine that he would have got many opportunities due to the strength the Foxes boasted in midfield.
And while there were few bright moments at Villa, he may perhaps feel that he made the right move for his career development as he enjoyed plenty of first-team football.
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