There’s a handful of Juve players that could follow Allegri, appointed Milan head coach in May, to the San Siro.
Dusan Vlahovic, who has been at a recent standoff with the Bianconeri, is of serious interest to Allegri. The Serbia striker is the highest-paid Serie A player, and Milan could wait until the end of August to sign him to save some big bucks.
Vlahovic’s lucrative Juventus contract of €12 million (US$13.8m) a year expires in June. He has turned down extending a deal with the Turin titans, as they are offering him a reduced salary.
The 25-year-old has also rejected potential moves to the Saudi Pro League and the Turkish Super Lig, as he wants to compete in one of the leading European leagues.
His agent recently flew to England for talks with a plethora of agents, but none of the cash-rich Premier League clubs have been tempted into making an offer. A combination of his steep salary demands and a reasonably high transfer fee for a player who will be a free agent next year have seemingly deterred interest.
Vlahovic’s representatives have since narrowed down his next club to either AC Milan or Villarreal.
Villarreal have money to make a marquee signing, having recently sold Alex Baena to Atletico Madrid and Thierno Barry to Everton. They collected €42m (US$49.1m) for Spanish midfielder Baena and €32m (US$37.4m) for French striker Barry.
Villarreal line up two striker targets
The Castellon team are desperately in need of a new center forward, with Villarreal head coach Marcelino Garcia Toral exploring the potential to land either Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Portuguese forward Fabio Silva or Vlahovic.
Milan would only be able to offer Vlahovic a reduced annual wage of €6m (US$6.9m). It would be a dangerous game to play for the forward to simply see out his contract at Juventus and warm the bench, as lack of minutes would jeopardize his selection for Serbia at next year’s FIFA World Cup finals.
The arrival of goal poacher Jonathan David at Juventus, with the club also keen to bring in another striker, means head coach Igor Tudor has effectively frozen out Vlahovic.
Negotiations are on-going between Juventus and Milan regarding Vlahovic. The clubs kicked off contact in early June, with discussions intensifying last month.
Juve to reduce Vlahovic transfer fee
Cash-strapped Juventus are believed to be willing to reduce their asking price to just €15m (US$17.3m), rather than run the risk of missing out on any transfer fee.
If Milan get the deal across the line, ahead of La Liga giants Villarreal, at the end of the month then Juventus could pay a hefty severance fee to facilitate the switch in order to trim their wage bill.
The Bianconeri are desperately attempting to offload players to raise funds for Tudor to land his targets.
The club’s precarious financial position seemingly puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to deals, as potential suitors of those on Juve’s extensive transfer list are calling the shots.