Shakhtar Donetsk's Alex Teixeira confirms Juventus offer, but a January move may be "too difficult"

December and January are fast approaching and that means transfer rumors are about to dominate our lives once again. But the product of that chatter is the fact that players rumored to be heading somewhere else are occasionally asked about what's going on with their current standing at their current club. They may not like it, but football journalists are curious, and don't have much shame at all during transfer season.

One of those players, uber-talented Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira, has been speaking of potentially leaving his club come the end of next season. There have been rumors, but never much talk from the player himself about leaving Shakhtar — until now.

"What I saw and my agent told [me] was that Chelsea, Juventus and PSG made offers. But Chelsea and Juventus are ahead in the negotiations. They are three big clubs; wherever I go, I will be happy."

Okay, so, at some point — probably during the Great Juventus Trequartista Hunt of 2015 this past summer — Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici made a bid for the 25-year-old Brazilian. This is what we now know from the player himself. And, by what he's saying above, he would approve of a move to Juventus because his time in Ukraine seems to be coming to an end.

However, when asked about going to England and specifically Chelsea, that enthusiasm gotten taken up level or two.

"It's my dream, I've told many people that I wish to play in the Premier League because I think it is the best championship of the world, the most competitive one, and I want to have this challenge in my career."

"I'm very happy for having this offer from Chelsea, it's a great European club, but my agent is taking care of it. For January, I believe it will be too difficult as we are in the middle of the season. Shakhtar already said they won't let me leave in January, only by the end of the season. But I'm not worried."

(Quotes via Lane!/We Ain't Got No History)

Okay, so maybe Chelsea is his No. 1 choice right now  — even with their bevy of attacking midfielders already on the roster. But the way he's talking is that it's pretty much a certainty that his time at Shakhtar is up come the summer transfer window. And knowing that the trequartista signing from this summer has been a bust up until this point, Juventus might as well rekindle that previous interest. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?