New Aston Villa signing: 'Unai Emery told me to leave'

Tom Weber

• Updated: 25 Sep 2024 13:09 CDT
• 3 min read

Samuel Iling-Junior has admitted that Unai Emery urged him to leave Aston Villa shortly after signing him.

The versatile 20-year-old was involved in one of the strangest deals of the summer transfer window. With Aston Villa in desperate need of balancing the books, they agreed to sell star midfielder Douglas Luiz to Juventus for just €51.5 million after previously demanding north of €100m.

As part of the transaction, and to sweeten the deal, Juventus agreed to send two players the other way. Initially, it was supposed to be United States star Weston McKennie and Iling-Junior, but the former couldn't reach an agreement with Juventus on the conditions of his departure, so Enzo Barrenechea headed to Villa instead.

READ MORE: Exclusive - Enzo Maresca requests Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid as Chelsea send scouts

It was blatantly obvious at the time that this deal was purely to help the Birmingham club comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules and the fact that they sent both Iling-Junior and Barrenechea out on loan for the season illustrates that they were not part of their initial summer plans.

Barrenechea joined Valencia, while Iling-Junior returned to Italy where he now suits up for Bologna.

Iling-Junior on bizarre Villa move

Speaking to Italian media, the Englishman opened up on his bizarre summer transfer window and revealed that Villa boss Unai Emery essentially told him to leave the club shortly after signing him.

"I spoke to the manager and I understood that there wasn’t much space for me and since I appreciate honesty, I preferred to look for a team where I could have more chances. Here in Bologna, there is a great project, as I had already seen last year.

READ MORE: Jhon Duran transfer battle bursts into life

"In the summer, I moved to Aston Villa, then came the offer from Bologna, a city that I like with a manager that I respect, and I decided to come here. I was already struck by the environment, the fans, last year and I liked it a lot,” he told Tuttosport.