French international midfielder Jordan Veretout joined Olympique Lyonnais from Marseille in September 2024. The transfer fee was reported as €4 million plus add-ons. He signed a contract tying him to the club until June 2026 and was handed the number 7 shirt.
Veretout, who was thirty-one years old at the time, has six French caps to his name, which have brought him a UEFA Nations League title and a World Cup runners-up medal. His only club title to date is the 2021-22 UEFA Conference League, which he won with Roma.
Due to his previous association with Lyon’s bitter rivals Saint-Étienne and Marseille, he wasn’t the most popular of arrivals amongst the supporters at the Groupama Stadium and will have to work harder than most to earn their affection. However, his wealth of experience makes him a useful addition to the squad.
Starting out at Nantes
Jordan Veretout was born in Ancenis in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, not far from the regional capital, Nantes. Having begun playing football at a local village club, Veretout found his way into the Nantes academy aged ten and steadily worked his way up through the ranks.
By the time the 2010-11 season came along, the seventeen year old Veretout was beginning to make a name for himself in the Nantes U-19 and reserve teams, having already helped the U-19’s reach the Coupe Gambardella semi-finals the previous season. He also received his first call up to a national team squad, when coach Pierre Mankowski included him in the France U-18 selection in October 2010 for a friendly against Greece. He went on to earn six U-18 caps, scoring two goals that season.
Physically slight and small in stature, Veretout was often at a disadvantage against bigger and more muscular opponents. However, his technical proficiency was apparent from a young age and combined with an impressive range of passing it more than compensated for any physical shortcomings. Never the quickest or the strongest, he soon learned to let his feet do the talking.
As 2010-11 drew to a close, with Nantes struggling in the lower reaches of Ligue 2, coach Philippe Anziani handed Jordan Veretout his senior debut as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat at Sedan. The following season Veretout was a regular for the Canaries under new coach Landry Chauvin, who had replaced Anziani in the close season. They finished ninth with Veretout finding the net on six occasions.
Youth Euro and World Cup Experience
He was also a mainstay of the France U-19 team that qualified for the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Estonia. They got off to a great start in the finals, beating Serbia and Croatia but then lost 2-1 to England in the final group game. Veretout had scored the equaliser just after the half hour mark, but Harry Kane nicked a winner a few minutes later. That meant that France faced the defending champions, Spain, in the semi-finals. A brace from Lyon’s Samuel Umtiti made it 2-2 and Paul Pogba equalised again in extra time but the Spaniards prevailed in a penalty shoot-out and went on to retain the trophy.
Nantes got their act together under Michel Der Zakarian in the 2012-13 season and finally achieved promotion back to Ligue 1 with a third place finish. Veretout was a linchpin in central midfield throughout the campaign and was rewarded with a place in Mankowski’s France squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey at the end of the season.
World Champion
No matter what else Jordan Veretout goes on to achieve in football, that U-20 World Cup tournament will undoubtedly remain one of the highlights of his career. He was virtually ever-present as France squeezed through a tough group and then defeated the hosts in the last sixteen with Veretout scoring the fourth French goal in a 4-1 win. They then swept past Uzbekistan and Ghana to set up a final with Uruguay.
The Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi, home of Galatasaray in Istanbul, was the venue for the title decider and Veretout was aligned alongside Geoffrey Kondogbia in central midfield. The two teams cancelled each other out and it finished goalless after extra time. A penalty shoot-out ensued and Veretout converted the second French spot kick himself whilst Alphonse Areola made a couple of saves to clinch the trophy for Les Bleus.
A big money move abroad
Back at Nantes, Der Zakarian guided them to respectable 13th and 14th place finishes in their first two seasons back in the top flight. Veretout really caught the eye in the second of those campaigns, scoring an impressive seven goals from midfield. That form prompted manager Tim Sherwood to pay around €10 million to take him to Aston Villa in July 2015.
Veretout was one of a plethora of new faces at Villa Park that summer as Sherwood revamped the squad. In fact, he was one of three Jordans who arrived from Ligue 1, alongside his compatriot Jordan Amavi from Nice and Jordan Ayew from Lorient. However, the 2015-16 season proved to be an unmitigated disaster for Villa and Sherwood was dismissed in late October with the club sitting at the bottom of the table.
Former Lyon manager Rémi Garde was brought in to try and turn things around but he had little impact and also parted company with the club prior to the end of the season, which ended with Villa finishing rock bottom and getting relegated. Veretout made 29 appearances across all competitions, and was the club’s top assist provider with five, but only tasted victory on five occasions.
Back to France on loan
Veretout was loaned to Saint-Étienne for the following season and prospered back in his homeland under coach Christophe Galtier. He was a regular in central midfield and scored three times in Ligue 1 as Les Verts finished in eighth place. They also enjoyed a run in the UEFA Europa League that ended with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Manchester United in February.
Saint-Étienne did not have an option to buy Jordan Veretout in their loan agreement with Aston Villa, and he was made available for transfer by the Villans upon his return there in summer 2017. Fiorentina manager Stefano Pioli decided to stump up a €7 million transfer fee to take Veretout to Italy, which would become his home for the next five years.
Serie A stalwart
Veretout enjoyed a fine first season in Florence, making 38 appearances and scoring ten goals in all competitions, which made him the club’s second top scorer behind Giovanni Simeone. His new-found scoring touch, which included a hat-trick against Lazio, helped the Viola to an eighth place finish in Serie A, just outside the European spots. However, the season was marred by tragedy when club captain Davide Astori passed away in his sleep ahead of a match at Udinese in March 2018.
The 2018-19 campaign was much tougher for Fiorentina. They slumped to a 16th place finish and suffered the disappointment of a semi-final exit in the Coppa Italia. Veretout found the net on five occasions in 37 appearances in central midfield and was impressive enough for newly appointed AS Roma manager Paulo Fonseca to to earmark him as one of his first signings upon taking the helm of ‘I Giallorossi‘ in June 2019.
All roads lead to Rome
Veretout initially moved to Roma on loan, but with an obligation to buy, and the move was made permanent the following summer for a fee of €17.5 million. He immediately became a key player for Roma, racking up 43 appearances during that first season in the capital, which made him the club’s most used player alongside Bosnian striker Edin Džeko, who also featured on 43 occasions. Veretout found the net seven times for his new club during that Covid-19 disrupted season as they eventually finished fifth in Serie A.
The 2020-21 season under coach Paulo Fonseca probably goes down as one of the best of Jordan Veretout’s career. Now aged 28, he’s at the peak of his powers, and scores a career high eleven goals in all competitions. His ten strikes in Serie A make him the first French midfielder since Michel Platini to reach double figures in that competition in a single season. Roma finish seventh in Serie A and reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals where Manchester United once again bring Veretout’s European run to an end, this time with an 8-5 aggregate victory.
France debut and a first trophy
To cap it all off, Veretout received his first call-up to the full French national team squad in August 2021 for a round of World Cup qualifying matches. Manager Didier Deschamps handed him his debut in a 1-1 draw versus Bosnia at the Stade de France in Paris. Veretout started as the anchor in a three-man midfield alongside Paul Pogba and Thomas Lemar. His Roma club mate Džeko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 36th minute, but Griezmann equalised three minutes later. He earned a second cap a few days later as a late substitute in a 1-1 draw against Ukraine.
A month later, Veretout was in the France squad again for the UEFA Nations League finals in Italy. Although he only came on for the last minute of the wins against Belgium and then Spain in the final, it was enough to earn him the first major trophy of his career.
European glory
José Mourinho replaced Paulo Fonseca as Roma manager for the 2021-22 season and continued to guide the club on an upwards trajectory. The squad was bolstered by a host of signings during the summer, including the arrival of future Lyon full-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan from Arsenal. Despite the increased competition for places, Veretout still featured regularly and was the club’s top assist provider as they improved by one position to finish 6th in Serie A.
However, it was in Europe that they really made their mark, with a run to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League where they met Feyenoord at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania. Veretout was named among the substitutes for the final, but he came off the bench in the 67th minute to replace Nicolò Zaniolo. Zaniolo had scored what proved to be the only goal of the game in the first half and Roma ran out 1-0 winners to lift the trophy, giving Veretout his first major club honour.
Nevertheless, Mourinho deemed Veretout to be surplus to requirements in the close season and he was sold to Marseille for €12.45 million. Newly installed Marseille manager Igor Tudor built his midfield around Veretout, who was the only player to feature in every match the club played during the 2022-23 campaign. He contributed five goals and five assists as they finished third in Ligue 1 to qualify for the UEFA Champions League again, having failed to get out of the group stage this time around.
World Cup Finals
Veretout had been on the fringes of the France squad since their UEFA Nations League win in 2021, so he was hopeful rather than expectant of a call up to their squad for the 2022 World Cup, which interrupted the 2022-23 season. Happily, he did make the cut for the group of 25 players that Didier Deschamps took on the plane to Qatar. Playing time was at a premium once he got there, with a 63 minute cameo in the final group game, a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia, his only contribution on the pitch. Nonetheless, he now has a World Cup Runners Up medal to his name following France’s defeat to Argentina on penalties in the final.
Last season was a somewhat turbulent campaign for Marseille as they churned through four managers en route to a disappointing eighth place finish in Ligue 1 and were eliminated from the Coupe de France early on. They crashed out of the Champions League in the qualifying round and dropped into the Europa League, but did at least progress deep into that competition. They reached the semi-finals where they lost 4-1 on aggregate to the eventual winners Atalanta. Veretout again racked up five goals and five assists from his 46 appearances in central midfield.
Olympique transfer
Roberto De Zerbi arrived as the new Marseille manager in June and he didn’t fancy Veretout, who was transfer listed and left out of the squad. He failed to secure a move away from Marseille before the end of the transfer window, but each club in France is allowed one ‘joker’ transfer outside of the transfer window per season, which is how Lyon were allowed to purchase him in September.
Jordan Veretout made a solid but unspectacular start to life in Lyon under Pierre Sage. He was generally deployed as part of a midfield three alongside Nemanja Matic and Corentin Tolisso and he scored his first goal in Lyon colours in the 4-1 win against Nice at the start of December. However, he has fallen out of favour since his former Roma manager Paulo Fonseca arrived at the end of January with the American Tanner Tessmann taking his spot in the starting line-up. Whether on the pitch or on the bench, he brings a lot of valuable experience to the club and has increased the strength in depth of the squad.