Reports: Juventus and Chelsea go head-to-head for Danilo

 

Danilo is a man in demand

What’s the story?

It seems as though Brazilian full-back, Danilo, is a man in demand as both Juventus and Chelsea are looking to acquire his signature to strengthen their squad. While Chelsea are looking to increase their strength in depth, Juventus are looking to fill the gap left by Dani Alves’s departure.

According to Marca, the Old Lady haven’t given up on signing the former Porto right-back and are considering a €15 million bid, but will have to pay around €30 million as Florentino Perez expects to recoup the €31.5 million that he paid for him two years ago.

However, according to the reliable Gianluca di Marzio, who believes that Real Madrid would accept a bid of around €20-25 million for the Brazilian, Max Allegri will have to fight off his predecessor, Antonio Conte, in order to successfully sign him.

In case you didn’t know…

Danilo was signed from Porto in the summer of 2015 for an exuberant fee of €31.5 million. However, the full-back couldn’t cement his place as a starter as Dani Carvajal has made the place his own. Indeed, the former Santos starlet could only manage to feature in 24 games in all competitions last term and would certainly like to add more to it.

The heart of the matter

For most of last season, Antonio Conte had to use Victor Moses at right-wing-back and wants reinforcements and Danilo has been on his mind since January. With Danilo’s former team-mate, Alex Sandro, on his way to the London club, it seems as though Conte’s intent is to build a strong squad that is able to compete on all fronts.

Juventus, meanwhile, need to sign another right-back since Dani Alves’s contract has been mutually terminated. The former Barcelona man is on his way to reunite with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, leaving Juventus short in the right-back department.

What’s next?

Danilo seems to be content with life at Real Madrid as Zidane has given him assurances. However, with just a little over two months left for the window to slam shut, Juventus and Chelsea have a lot of time to convince the Merengue player to join their ranks.

Author’s take

With the World Cup coming up next year, Danilo would want to play as much as possible in order to make it to Tite’s squad in Russia. At Real Madrid, he is never going to start over a fit Carvajal, so leaving Los Blancos for a club that guarantees him a starting spot seems like a wise thing to do.