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As it stands now, all of Juventus' potential trequartista shopping that we know about is being done with a heavy German flavor. Maybe that's a cue for all of us to go order up some Sauerbraten, Schnitzel or Bratwurst, or to start paying attention to what's going on in the Bundesliga with a little more often.
However, for the immediate future, all of this German-related activity involves who might be Juventus' No. 10 next season. We've heard about all the reported interest Juve has in a Götze, but there's also
#Juve: nuovi contatti in giornata con lo @s04 per Julian #Draxler. Passi in avanti. #GoalMercato http://t.co/tlfcNsHqza
— Romeo Agresti (@romeoagresti) July 19, 2015
Double confirmation...
Juventus is ready to make a move for Julian Draxler. There are some difficulties with Mario Goetze tied to the player's will as well as Bayern Munich's resistance. That is why Juventus is ready to make an offer to Schalke 04. While the bianconeri won't pay the €45 million exit clause, they have also abandoned the idea of offering a loan deal with option to buy tied to games played.
(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)
Triple confirmation...
Niente prestito, la Juve prepara l'offerta per Draxler. È lui l'obiettivo numero uno in attesa delle decisioni di Goetze.Domani su La Stampa
— Massimiliano Nerozzi (@MaxNerozzi) July 19, 2015
So, this may just be me trying to read between the lines here, but it sounds as though — through the reporting of those three rather reputable Italian journalists above — that Mario Götze is Juve's No. 1 choice to be their new No. 10 next season, but it's actually Julian Draxler who they feel is the more obtainable transfer target. And if that's the way Juventus are thinking, then you can't blame them for going making an offer to Schalke for Draxler while they continue to work on Götze's rather complicated situation at Bayern.
Is it a situation where one of Götze and Draxler is better than the other? No, they're both extremely talented and young enough to get even better than they are right now. If Juve can't land one, at least there's the option of having the other. Sometimes it's just better to have options than putting all your eggs — or maybe in this case some kind of German produce — in one basket.
Draxler or Götze. Götze or Draxler. German attacking midfielder or ... German attacking midfielder. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Oh what kind of decisions there will be to make. Let's see if Beppe Marotta and/or Max Allegri say something about their hunt for a trequartista during their first press conference of preseason training later in the day on Monday. We definitely know they'll be asked about what's going on.