Juventus will have to wait another year if they want their top target.
While Juventus will be busy focusing on midfield upgrades in the summer 2020 transfer window, they have already missed out on their top striker target to replace Gonzalo Higuain, who will likely move to the MLS or River Plate in the near future.
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Juve had been targeting Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi moreso than any other player, even though it would have cost them a minimum of 50 million euros to sign the world-class striker.
And while that would have been a bargain just a year ago, it’s a hefty price to pay during a pandemic when future revenues are completely up-in-the-air despite the planned resumption of Serie A in June.
According to a report from Sky Sport Italia, via JuveFC.com, Inter Milan made sure to prevent their rivals from hurting them when they agreed to sell Mauro Icardi to PSG.
Icardi played the 2019-2020 Ligue 1 season with PSG on loan from Inter, who were guaranteed to sell the player in 2020.
After Icardi shined in Paris, the club wanted to make the deal permanent to maintain their attacking quartet of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel Di Maria, and Icardi for at least one more season, especially with Edinson Cavani on the way out.
PSG were able to acquire Icardi for 50-60 million euros from the former Serie A title contenders, but Inter placed an “anti-Juve” clause in the deal.
OK, it’s not specifically anti-Juve. But per Sky Sport Italia, PSG would have to pay 15 million euros if they were to sell Icardi to any team in Serie A. And since Juve would be the only team with the funds and mutual interest in Icardi…
The 15 million euro penalty to PSG would have to be recovered by the team, which means the price would go up 15 million euros for Juve. And that means as long as this clause is in effect, Juve will probably look elsewhere.
If they want to make an immediate striker upgrade, Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik is the top option with Duvan Zapata closely behind.