Aston Villa have had their opening bid for Rodrigo Bentacur rejected by Juventus. Steven Gerrard’s club has made an offer worth €20 million, plus €5 million in add-ons.

However, the Serie A club are holding out for a bigger fee. This is because they have a 30% sell-on clause from Boca Juniors, who will receive that amount of the transfer fee if the deal goes through.

Aston Villa will have to step up their offer for Rodrigo Bentacur

Rodrigo Bentacur joined the Bianconeri from Boca Juniors in 2017, and has been a regular under Max Allegri this season. He has appeared in five of their six Champions League group stage games, and has started 13 of their Serie A games this season.

Juventus have received Aston Villa official bid for Rodrigo Bentancur: €20m plus €5m add ons. Not enough to accept yet – as Juve will pay 30% of future sale to Boca Juniors. 🇺🇾 #AVFC

Juventus are monitoring Denis Zakaria and Nahitan Nández in case they’ll sell a midfielder.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 28, 2022

His current deal runs out in 2024, and as a result, Juventus are under no pressure to sell the player for a lesser amount than they’d like. Steven Gerrard believes that the Uruguayan international would be a valuable addition to the midfield, and would provide competition for Douglas Luiz in that position.

Rodrigo Bentacur is in Uruguay on national team duty, and should an agreement be reached, a medical for the transfer will have to go through in South America itself. The Bianconeri recently agreed the signing of Dusan Vlahovic, and already have a very strong squad.

As a replacement for Bentacur in the long-term, Juventus are looking at Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria and Cagliari’s Nahitan Nández, who is also another Uruguay international.