The 26-year-old box-to-box midfielder is valued at €30m (US$31.35m) by Benfica, where he came through their youth academy.
His set of skills and style of play have caught the eye of Serie A sides AC Milan, AS Roma and most recently Juve. He has often been compared to former Juventus icon Paul Pogba.
Although his current contract with the Portuguese giants runs until summer 2027, the Bianconeri are interested in him potentially replacing Douglas Luiz. The Brazilian midfielder, who arrived from Aston Villa last summer, could return to the English Premier League at the end of the season.
At least Bianconeri fans would not get mixed on the team sheet between Luiz and the Portuguese ace, as the Angola-born player is simply known as Florentino.
Bolstering the current Juve squad during the summer is a priority for Motta, who is in the first season of a three-year contract.
Although he had a bit of a wobble, the head coach recently orchestrated four wins on the bounce and it is all steam ahead for his summer of change with Project Motta.
The bubble has just burst for Juventus, with a tame 3-1 surrender to PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Yet the Dutch League champions do boast an outstanding European record on home turf, with their success over the Turin titans their fourth consecutive Champions League home win.
Although Juve were the hot favourites to progress into the last 16 of Europe’s most prestigious club competition, the board will be counting the cost of lost revenue.
There will no doubt be an inquest into why they failed to reach the last 16, and missed out on a healthy bonus from the Champions League organisers.
This lack of an additional monetary injection means Motta’s defeat to PSV could jeopardise his plans to splash big bucks on a top quality midfielder.
Swapping players is always a possibility, with Juve recently exploring the arrival of former AC Milan star Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United in exchange for Luiz.
Inter Milan, who automatically qualified through being placed in the top eight berths during the eight-match first phase, are the only remaining Italian team in the Champions League.
Bologna, Motta’s former team, fell by the wayside in the first phase. AC Milan, Atalanta and Juventus all made a limp exit from the play-off rounds.
Yet Juve target Florentino remains in the Champions League, with Benfica seeing off AS Monaco 4-3 on aggregate. No doubt his silky skills on the big stage will grab the attention of even more admirers.
It’s back to domestic matches for Motta’s men. They need to put their European woes behind them to concentrate on Serie A action, when they visit Cagliari on Sunday.
The defending Coppa Italia champions will welcome Empoli to the Allianz Stadium for a quarter-final showdown on Wednesday, when Motta could rotate his squad ahead of their league clashes with Hellas Verona and Atalanta.
After this quartet of games, it should become quite apparent whether or not Luiz is intent on fighting for his future with the Bianconeri. If sold then Florentino could be lured.
Luiz, who has yet to play 500 minutes in a Juventus jersey, is currently sidelined with muscle fatigue. He will surely be biting at the bit to be back in action soon, as Premier League scouts have been regularly spotted at Juve games in recent weeks.