Villarreal interested in Inter wide man but face Serie A competition

Inter man Tajon Buchanan looks as if he could be on his way out of the Giuseppe Meazza this January, but it remains to be seen where he will be headed. While the Nerazzurri would rather he remains in Italy, Villarreal are doing their best to persuade Buchanan and Inter into a move to Spain.

Buchanan joined Inter last January from Club Brugge for €7.3m, but has struggled to make the impact he would have wanted. The Canada star made 10 appearances in the second half of last season, but totalled just 151 minutes under Simone Inzaghi. This season has seen no improvement in the matter, with just 163 minutes across 7 appearances as an alternative to Denzel Dumfries on the right.

As such, Inter are hoping to find the 25-year-old a loan destination before the end of the transfer market, and Relevo report that they would prefer him to stay in Serie A for both footballing and financial reasons. Within Serie A, Fiorentina, Torino and Monza are all prepared to give Buchanan a home for the rest of the season. Equally Ajax are competing with Villarreal to provide an option abroad. A deal for the Yellow Submarine is described as ‘not easy’ despite their best efforts.

The pacy wide man is versatile, and in the past has played on both flanks, as an attacking defender or further forward. With Villarreal in talks with Aston Villa to sell Juan Foyth, Buchanan could be an alternative at right-back to Kiko Femenia in Marcelino Garcia Toral’s 4-4-2 formation. Equally it would be no surprise to see him play as one of the wide midfielders in that formation, given Villarreal have lost Ilias Akhomach for the rest of the season to a cruciate ligament injury. At right-back, they can offer a competition with Femenia for the starting spot, but Buchanan might find minutes harder to come by up against Yeremy Pino and Nicolas Pepe.