Juventus transfer rumours: Watford planning audacious swoop for Roberto Pereyra

Roberto Pereyra in action for Juventus in preseason

Premier League side Watford are set to make their first big name signing this season with the Hornets closing in on a deal for Juventus forward Roberto Pereyra. The Serie A player, is a well-known name with the Watford owner, having played for Udinese (another club owned by the Pozzo family) before his switch to the Italian champions. 

According to reports from the English media, Watford have reached an agreement with the Serie A champions and are currently in talks with the Argentine over personal terms. The Hornets, who began their new campaign with an impressive draw away to Southampton under their new manager Walter Mazzari will be looking to thrash out a deal quickly  to add more attacking impetus to their side.

The fee for the 25-year-old attacking midfielder is believed to be around £10.4million and can rise to a maximum of £13 million in years to come, which would break Watford’s record transfer fee paid for a player. The Hornets had earlier paid £12.5 million for Isaac Success, who moved to England earlier this summer.

Pereyra, who has 10 caps for Argentina and reached the 2015 Copa America final with the national team, arrived in Europe from River Plate to join Udinese, with whom he spent three stellar seasons. The South American then moved to Turin in 2014 on a loan as Juventus came calling. Pereyra had a good start to his career at Turin, appearing 52 times for the Italian champions in the 2014/15 season including the Champions League final against Barcelona.

However, after securing a permanent move to the Serie A champions, he fell off the radar last season featuring just 16 times for the black and white last season. And now it looks like he is no longer in Max Allegri’s plans moving forward.

Mazzari, before the season opener at Southampton, had quipped that the Hornets were still interested in bringing a few new faces to the club and Pereyra seems to be the first in lin. “The club has given me the possibility to go ahead with two or three new players. They say it’s no problem if we need them, and I think we need them. I prefer not to go into much detail but it will probably be one of each position of defence, midfield and forward”, Mazzari was quoted by the Guardian. 

Mazzari is likely to turn his head towards the backline the moment the deal is sealed for Pereyra. Christian Kabasele arrived earlier in the summer from Genk to bolster the options at the back. But with a long a difficult second season ahead of the club, Mazzari will like to add to his options at the back with Craig Cathcart, Miguel Britos and Sebastien Prodl starting at the back for Watford in their season opener.