Paris Saint-Germain confirm Blaise Matuidi won’t be signing with Juventus

Over the last week or two, we’ve heard that Blaise Matuidi was the No. 1 choice to replace Paul Pogba. He was the No. 1 choice after the other No. 1 choices, Axel Witsel and Nemanja Matic, proved to be deals that would never happen.

Based on what we heard late Friday from one of Paris Saint-German’s highest-ranking officials, Juventus might as well find another option to be the latest No. 1 option.

Matuidi isn’t going to be leaving PSG club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told Le Parisien

“I can confirm he will not be leaving and in fact will extend his contract. I always wanted him to stay, as he is an exemplary player who gives his all for PSG. He has an immense heart on the field and remains an icon for our club.”

(Source: Football Italia)

So the reported €40 million price tag? Apparently nothing worth worrying about.

The reported €30 million price tag? Apparently nothing worth worrying about, too.

Up until the last day or so, things seemed to point toward Juventus signing Matuidi, solving their Pogba replacement need and then completing what has been an otherwise incredibly productive summer transfer window. In fact, just a few days ago, Juventus director general Beppe Marotta was talking about how optimistic he was that a deal for Matuidi would get done.

Well, so much for that, I guess.

Now we’re onto the next No. 1 option. Or something like that. I don’t really know at this point considering the names just get crossed off the list one by one. Not that there’s anything earth-shattering that Juventus can do in the next couple of days. Seems as though the hunt for Pogba’s replacement is going the same way the Next Great Juventus Trequartista Hunt of 2015 — out with a whimper and not a bang like so many of us had hoped for.

Good times, folks. Really, really good times.