Juventus Transfer News: Old Lady to demand huge fee for striker, Premier League left-back targetted & more - 15th January 2019
After a stroll-in-the-park Coppa Italia win against Bologna, the big stories around Juventus concern possible in-coming and outgoing transfers.
The Bianconeri have always been one of Europe's smartest clubs at playing the market. This transfer window promises to be no different. Already, lots of stories are swirling the internet about possible targets being eyed by transfer supremo Fabio Paratici.
The Aaron Ramsey story has refused to go away with speculation growing that the announcement might be made this week. The club has characteristically played this very close to their chest, giving little information away about the move.
Here is a look at some of the major transfer speculation and rumours concerning Serie A's grand old lady:
#1 Juventus unwilling to let go of striker for cheap
When the Juventus board decided to take the plunge and spend €100m to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, a few eyebrows were raised. This was despite the decade of prudent spending at the club following the Calciopoli scandal, Juve was still not amongst Europe's richest sides.
The Ronaldo move meant that certain players (Gonzalo Higuain & Claudio Marchisio) had to be sacrificed. The Argentine striker has been on-loan at AC Milan since then as Juve's preference for an outright sale did not yield any buyers.
However, English Premier League side, Chelsea have shown serious interest in getting the 31-year-old Argentine striker to join on. According to The Express, Juve has made a 48m demand if Chelsea is to sign Higuain on loan for 18 months. This represents a loan fee of £24m and the Blues covering the striker's wages of £24m for the period.
This is an offer that the Blues are said to be unsure about. All that can be done now is to wait and see if Higuain is eventually reunited with his old coach at Napoli, Maurizio Sarri.
#2 Old Lady in chase for Premier League left-back
Juventus' defensive record has, as usual, been excellent this season. The first-choice back four; Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro and Joao Cancelo have only let in 15 goals in 26 games across all competitions.
However, with the UEFA Champions League, a top priority for the club, manager Max Allegri has been wisely rotating his squad. The latest news is that the Bianconeri are eyeing up Chelsea's Italian left-back, Emerson Palmieri.
The Brazilian-born Italian international only joined the Blues in a £17.6m deal from AS Roma last January. However, he has found opportunities difficult to come by with Marcos Alonso preferred by Sarri.
According to Goal.com, the Italian champions are interested in a permanent deal for Emerson though no price was quoted. This has become imperative as reserve left-back, Leonardo Spinazzola may be moving on loan in this window.
#3 Juventus miss out on Argentine starlet
The higher-ups at the Allianz Stadium are well aware of the average age of the squad they currently have. The arrivals of Ronaldo and Bonucci have further raised the average age of the squad to 28.5.
With this in mind, Paratici has been scouring the globe for new talent that could be of benefit to the team in the long run. This mindset has led to the signings of players like Rodrigo Bentancur, Andrea Favalli, Rodrigo Mandragora amongst others in recent years.
However, La Vecchia Signora may have missed out on one of the hottest talents emerging from Argentina. According to Goal.com, Borussia Dortmund has trumped Juventus to the signing of Boca Juniors defender, Leonardo Balerdi.
The 19-year-old youth international had been on the Bianconeri's radar for a while as club scouts were running the rule over him. However, the Bundesliga leaders have bitten the bullet and agreed on a €15m deal to take Balerdi to the Signal-Iduna Park