Everyone is asking the above question, especially us Juventus supporters. Whilst Giuseppe Marotta, Paratici and the rest of the management team earned themselves the trust of all Juventus fans, the close of this transfer window is testing the nerves of everyone. The transfer window started on an uncertain note from day one as it was still unknown if Tevez and Pirlo would move away. In that uncertainty Juventus made some good move as the signatures of Paolo Dybala, Daniele Rugani, Sami Khedira and Norberto Neto reassured the environment.
Unfortunately a series of negative happenings started to take place with the confirmed departures of Pirlo and Tevez that went on with the sale of Vidal to Bayern Munich. These losses at transfer level were also followed by losses at physical level with several players hit by injury. The midfield department was the one affected mostly with Asamoah, Khedira and Marchisio all out. In the meantime there was positive news with the signings of Alex Sandro at left back and Cuadrado as a winger. Surprisingly another important sales took place unexpectedly as Juventus sold Coman to Bayern Munich for an overall fee of 28 million euros. Some positive news emerged as various news sources and official sources from Juventus reassured that more men will be added to their midfield. The primary objective was that of signing a creative attacking midfielder together with a central midfielder that could fill in until all midfielders are back in action.
The name that was constantly being linked with Juventus was Julian Draxler, a 21 year old attacking midfielder full of talent that formed part of the German World Cup winning squad. The rumors have went on for months with reports in recent days stating that Juventus were very closing in signing him. The main bottleneck in closing the deal was the transfer fee, as Juventus and Schalke 04 couldn’t agree on a fee. That said, Draxler was very keen on joining Juventus but in the last days as Juventus and Schalke 04 were close to agreeing on a fee, Wolfsburg joined the race for Draxler’s signature as they sold Kevin De Bruyne for a fee greater than 80 million euros to Manchester City. Whilst initially Draxler kept on preferring a move to Juventus, this morning it has been reported that he’s preferring a move to Wolfsburg.
Now it seems that Juventus will not only miss out on Julian Draxler but they might even have to miss out on an attacking midfielder. To add insult to injury Juventus haven’t even secured a midfielder yet and they risk facing the new season with a thin squad. Various names are being linked to Juventus with Olympique Marseille midfielder, Lemina, topping the list. Other names being mentioned are Zenit’s Witsel, Lyon’s Fekir and AC Milan’s Montolivo.
I hope that Juventus will manage to secure tw0 quality midfield signings…
