Now that Atletico Madrid are out of the Champions League, Juventus can push after Thomas Partey even harder.
After an excellent 2019-2020 season in La Liga and the Champions League, Atletico Madrid center midfielder Thomas Partey has established himself as one of the best midfield options on the transfer market. Juventus have now joined Arsenal with interest in Partey, and perhaps they are even more interested with Andrea Pirlo in the manager’s seat.
Pirlo and Juve remain cool on the young Sandro Tonali, and they seem to be eyeing Partey ahead of options like Tonali and Chelsea’s veteran regista Jorginho.
According to a report from TuttoJuve, Juventus have submitted Atletico Madrid a new swap deal proposal, offering right winger Federico Bernardeschi in exchange for Partey. The report does not indicate whether Juve have added cash to the Bernardeschi offer, seeing as how Partey should be worth significantly more than Bernardeschi.
It’s worth noting that Atletico have been mentioned as one of the teams interested in Bernardeschi, and they may also have interest in Douglas Costa. But Juventus would most likely prefer to give them Bernardeschi, since Costa is a bigger name and better player. They can likely find someone else interested in Costa, whereas Bernardeschi’s suitor may be limited.
Federico Bernardeschi fits Atletico Madrid better than Juventus
Due to his athletic ability and work rate, Bernardeschi may fit Atelti, whereas he’s clearly been a liability for Juventus. Using him in order to nab Partey would be an absolute steal for Fabio Paratici and the Old Lady of Turin.
As for Thomas Partey, he is almost everything Juventus need in the middle of the park and would be an excellent foil to Arthur Melo and Rodrigo Bentancur on either side of him. The 27-year-old is in the prime of his career and is coming off his best season.
Per WhoScored.com, the Ghanian lit up La Liga with three goals, 1.6 dribbles per game, 2.0 tackles per game, and 1.4 interceptions per game. He was even more impressive defensively in the Champions League, leading the way in midfield with a jaw-dropping 3.6 tackles per game and 1.5 interceptions per game. No other midfielder on the Rojiblancos was within 1.5 tackles per game of Partey in Europe’s top competition.
Juventus may have to tack on a chunk of cash to this deal, but it would absolutely be worth it for them to use Bernardeschi to get Partey, so long as Atleti are reasonable about the difference in valuation.