Juventus ready to offer two players to sign Arsenal full-back – Reports
According to TuttoJuve, Juventus are ready to offer two players, Adrien Rabiot and Douglas Costa, in order to secure the services of Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin.
One of Juventus’s primary goals this summer will be to sign a right-back. Danilo and Juan Cuadrado are the two players currently occupying the position for the Italian giants.
In 2019, Juventus let go of Joao Cancelo in a swap deal with Manchester City involving Danilo and cash. However, during the tenure of Andrea Pirlo, Danilo has been utilized in a variety of positions. That has also been the case with Juan Cuadrado, who has often been asked to deputise in the full-back role despite being usually deployed as a wide midfielder and a winger.
It is believed that the Bianconeri have identified Arsenal’s 25-year-old full-back Hector Bellerin as the prime candidate for the rightback slot. While the Spaniard has had his fair share of ups and downs at Arsenal, Juve fans will be hopeful that his best days are ahead of him.
Bellerin has suffered from injury-related issues and inconsistency at Arsenal, and a change of environment could benefit him. The Spaniard could potentially add a lot of pace and tooth to the right side of the Juve defence, providing overlapping runs as well as crosses into the box.
Both Adrien Rabiot and Douglas Costa have struggled to make a positive impact at Juventus
If Bellerin takes the flight from London to Turin, it is believed that Adrien Rabiot and Douglas Costa could go the opposite way. Adrien Rabiot was signed by Juventus in 2019 after PSG blacklisted him for disciplinary reasons. Rabiot has struggled to find his feet at the club and hasn’t quite hit the heights that were expected from him. Constant scrutiny on his behaviour off the pitch and the reported lack of professionalism haven’t helped either.
While Douglas Costa was prolific in his days at Shakhtar and Bayern Munich, the winger has declined rapidly at Juventus. He has struggled to consolidate a place in Juventus’ starting XI and has mostly been restricted to the role of a squad player. He’s now back on loan at Bayern Munich, the club where he won two consecutive Bundesliga titles in a starting role.
While the deal definitely seems lucrative from Juventus’ point of view, Arsenal have the opportunity to play hardball here. The Gunners will also be looking to bolster their squad in the next transfer window. While Arsenal will surely be interested in taking a look at both these players, they'll certainly have an eye on the off-the-pitch issues that both Rabiot and Douglas Costa could potentially bring with them.
The Old Lady of Turin would probably also need to offer a lot of cash in order to woo Arsenal into selling Bellerin. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops over the summer.