Venezia chief casts doubt on Aaron Connolly's future

Aaron Connolly's future with Italian Serie B side Venezia is in doubt after club president Duncan Niederauer said that they would be talking to Brighton to find a "solution".

The Republic of Ireland international left the Premier League side for a loan spell with the Venice outfit in the summer, making his debut against Genoa in August.

The striker, who turns 23 next month, would make four more appearances for the side across August and September but hasn’t played since with the side now sitting just one spot off the bottom of the league table despite playing in Serie A last season.

"The player is not injured. He was, but he's fine, he had some adaptation difficulties," Niederauer is reported to have said by Italian outlet Triventogoal.

"We will talk to Brighton in January to find a solution. In January and June we will do several operations."

Connolly has found his game-time reduced in recent seasons since making 44 appearances for the Seagulls between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns.

He would go to play 20 times for English Championship outfit Middlesbrough after joining them on loan in January 2022, but he managed to play a full 90 minutes on just five occasions.

He last appeared in a Republic of Ireland senior squad since their 4-0 international friendly win over Qatar in October 2021.

He did not play any minutes in that match but did make an impact for Jim Crawford’s under-21 side in September as they lost a European U21 Championship play-off with Israel.