Report: Juventus to try and sign Bayern Munich defender Mehdi Benatia

Five central defenders on the Juventus roster has made sense for a lot of reasons and has been the case for a lot of years. And with Martin Cáceres seeing his Juve career coming to an official end in a matter of weeks, then the current number of central defenders on the roster is about to go down by one. (Although with Martin's numerous injuries, it's not like we weren't used to it already.)

That means Juventus, if they want to stay true to form, will need to sign a central defender to get back up to the usual number of five.

There seems to be a new — depending on how you look at it — option that may be on the market this summer...

In the next few hours the bianconeri will make an attempt for Mehdi Benatia, they would however only try to sign him on loan with option to buy. Juventus wants to ensure there is no obligation to buy, but they will still try to bring the former Roma central defender back to Serie A.

(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)

WAIT.

WAIT.

WAIT.

Juventus trying to sign somebody on loan with the potential to work in an option to buy? Never heard of such a thing. That's not how Juventus conducts business with players who they bring in every summer.

(/end sarcasm/)

Benatia's name being linked to Juventus is not new. It's far from new, actually. He's been the defender that the likes of Tuttosport have been fawning over every transfer window the last year or two. To say his stay with Bayern Munich hasn't gone according to plan following his big-money move a couple of summers ago. He's slipped down Bayern's depth chart, and with the German giants adding more and more players to their extensive roster already this summer, it's not like things are to suddenly change for the better when it comes to Benatia getting more playing time.

Sounds like the kind of situation where Juventus would swoop in and pounce, doesn't it?

This is the kind of buy-low deal we've seen Beppe Marotta use to his advantage in the past — and certainly one he will continue to use to his liking in the future. Whether that actually involves Benatia remains to be seen, but it's hard to say that at least reading the situation from afar doesn't remind us of some other kinds of deals Juve have made over the last few summer transfer windows under Marotta's watchful eye.