Report: Juventus pondering the idea of signing Rodrigo Bentancur in January, not over the summer

For the final few weeks of December, we pretty much figured two Juventus transfer dealings involving midfielders were going to go down at some point. One was for Axel Witsel, although we didn’t know the exact timing out of it all. The other one was for young Boca Juniors playmaker Rodrigo Bentancur, who was widely believed to make his move to Juventus later on this calendar year.

We all know the first of those two midfielders isn’t going to be a Juventus player this month, this summer or even this year. But what about the second one...?

According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport Italia, Juventus’ acquisition of the 19-year-old Uruguayan midfielder could be sped up a couple of months, with Beppe Marotta reportedly being in contact with Boca Juniors officials to try and see if Bentancur can become a Juve player before the summer months arrive in Italy.

Juventus was prevented from getting Boca Juniors' 1997-born midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in the last session of the market, but there is a chance that the same move could be completed in January. The chances are increasing steadily that Bentancur could join Juve this month, even though he will be participating in the South American Youth Football Championships with Uruguay and will not be available until February. Juventus is seriously considering and is putting their offer together correspondingly.

The question coming out of this would be a simple one: Why?

The first is that Juventus want more options in the midfield and possibly a natural alternative for Miralem Pjanic at trequartista if the club continues to compete on three fronts going into the next couple of months at the very minimum. As we can see this week, the schedule is going to be crammed and packed with games to play, with games every three or four days going to be the norm heading into February and March if Juve are to beat Atalanta in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night. Or maybe it’s just as simple as Juventus want Bentancur see an opportunity to have the teenager start training with his teammates a few months earlier and have him gain valuable experience before the summer arrives.

If true, it certainly is an interesting development when it comes to a player who almost seemed like a stone cold lock to arrive in the summer. But hey, the kid obvious has talent, so why not try to add him now when there’s an obvious need to increase squad depth in the midfield? Exactly.