Report: Juventus to offer between €6-8 million for Axel Witsel in January

Axel Witsel is going to be a Juventus player. That fact we have come to know quite well considering he told us just a couple of short days ago. The one catch in all of this is that while Witsel will be a Juventus player relatively soon, he just doesn’t know if his move to Turin will be happening in January or June.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Juventus want that to happen in January.

A reported offer between €6 million and €8 million will be present to Zenit St. Petersburg come the opening of the January transfer window to try and convince the Russian club to sell Witsel to Juve. Whether Zenit will accept the offer is a completely different matter based on how difficult it was to negotiate with them over the summer, but the reporting on this is another sign that Juventus are determined to sign Witsel in January because they want him on the roster in January, not as a free transfer come the summer months.

Now it’s just a matter of making it happen.

Witsel, who turns 28 in the middle of January, will be a free agent come seasons end, so the risk of Zenit losing him on a free transfer is more than just a small possibility at this point in time. Zenit have played hard ball — be it in July, be it in August, be it on the final day of the transfer window or be it in the days, weeks and months following the deadline day move falling apart when it seemed like Witsel joining Juventus was pretty much a certainty. This is pretty much going to be the norm — which seems relatively odd to those of us who think logically for one main reason:

• Zenit can get money for Witsel if they sell him to Juve in January, OR...
• Zenit will get no money for Witsel if they let him join Juve in the summer months.

That seems pretty logical to me. My math tells me €6 million or €8 million is much, much more than no millions. I will still try and get some sources to confirm that. Up until then, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with this deal. The good part is that we know where Witsel will be playing his football next. But, like him, we just don’t know when, exactly, his first Juventus appearance will be taking place.