Juve looked way off the mark to tackle the Serie A season as Scudetto contenders after surprisingly being held to a 2-2 stalemate by Serie B outfit AC Reggiana on Saturday. Their lack of cohesion, creativity and organization in the middle of the pitch was very apparent.
Unwanted midfielder Douglas Luiz, who is on the brink of a return to the Premier League following a disappointing single season with Juventus, should free up some cash if sold.
Juve head coach Igor Tudor must surely be frustrated that the cash-strapped club are constantly unable to land their targets because they will not splash the cash.
He continues to face tricky times in the transfer market, desperately waiting to offload those he has no intention of utilizing for the forthcoming Serie A campaign.
As well as losing Luiz in the middle, Weston McKennie’s future remains uncertain while Fabio Miretti is in talks about a switch to Serie A champions Napoli.
There has been a plethora of replacements touted, but many are snapped up by teams who accept their valuation while Juve lag behind and miss out.
Clubs chase Doumbia
Royal Antwerp FC have slapped a minimum asking price of €15 million (US$17.4m) on central midfielder Mahamadou Doumbia who is on Juve’s radar.
Yet there is also serious interest from Brighton & Hove Albion, Everton, Napoli and Sevilla in the 21-year-old Malian emerging star after the Belgium club rejected Juve’s bid of €10m (US$11.6m).
Southampton ace Mateus Fernandes is priced at €30m (US$34.8m), despite having arrived just a year ago at half of that figure from Sporting Lisbon.
Juve are currently not prepared to fork out that much for the 21-year-old, whose breakthrough season was during his 2023/24 loan spell at Estoril before tackling the Premier League with aplomb.
Juventus haggle over Hjulmand
Sporting Lisbon skipper Morten Hjulmand remains Juve’s top midfield priority. Although the 26-year-old Dane is willing to join the Turin titans, there is a standoff over his transfer fee of €60m (US$69.5m).
Fenerbahce misfit Sofyan Amrabat and Denmark international Matt O’Riley, a Fulham youth product who was a big hit at Celtic prior to joining Brighton last summer.
Both remain on the back-up list for Juventus to strengthen their midfield before they host Parma for the Serie A opener on 24 August.