From the day Juventus made Mario Lemina's loan deal a permanent one, the word out of Italy would have made you believe the only reason why the Serie A champions did so is that they plan to spin him to another club for a nice profit. Hey, it made sense. And considering Juve's midfield is one of the most crowded and competitive places for playing time on the squad, it was actually a logical transfer rumor to digest.
(Yes, those are possible.)
But, if Lemina was on the market, it seems as though that has changed. According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport Italia, Lemina is no longer on the transfer market, with Juventus reportedly no longer interested in having the young midfielder be a potential source of cash to potentially use on another player despite having a handful of teams bidding for the 22-year-old's services.
Using Lemina as a human influx of cash seems unlikely now.
And, honestly, that's the way it should be.
How much of this report has to do with Paul Pogba's future aside, Lemina clearly showed the Juventus management enough for them to buy him outright for €9.5 million back in late-April. At 22 years old, there's obviously plenty of room to grow as a player. But from what we've seen so far in his brief Juventus career — one where he's had to deal with a lengthy injury layoff, too — that there is quite a solid base to build on.
And if Pogba makes his way to Manchester as well as the fact that Sami Khedira is known for dealing with an injury or two of his own throughout the year, well, there's going to be even more potential for a bigger role in Juve's midfield this upcoming season. That's a good thing, though. As Lemina showed us at the end of last season, when he does get a fair bit of consistent playing time, he can do a thing or two to impress us all. Funny how that works, huh?