Report: Nemanja Matic has become Juventus’ No. 1 priority in midfield

Chelsea have made a big-money signing, folks. And don’t worry because it’s not Alex Sandro. Rejoice! With the arrival of Tiemoué Bakayoko from AS Monaco on Saturday, the common logic would tell you that the reigning English Premier League champions have one too many defensive midfielders on their roster.

And thus, the rumor mill has been churning.

Juventus are interested in signing a central midfielder. Chelsea are deemed to have a surplus in central midfielders with the arrival of Bakayoko. According to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio, Chelsea midfield Nemanja Matic has emerged as Juve’s No. 1 choice to be that central midfield signing this summer. Here is more from Di Marzio’s report:

...the first choice for Juventus and Allegri is Matic and there was contact with Chelsea. The player was not called up for the preseason tournament in China and Juventus will give it a try. Chelsea is demanding 45 million euros for Matic: this is the first request for the midfielder. The London club had asked for Alex Sandro for 70 million euros, but the offer was rejected by Juventus.

I guess the initial reaction from a lot of people is that they’re going to view this as a way to spend the money that Juventus just got from Milan in the Leonardo Bonucci sale. While that could be true, it’s not like Matic hasn’t been linked to Juventus in the somewhat recent past.

We’ve seen names come and go when it comes to Juve’s search for a central midfielder. Is Matic one of the better names linked to the club this summer? Well, yeah, I think that’s pretty easy to say. Would he help Juventus? Well, yeah, I think that’s pretty easy to say, too.

But at what point does the price outweigh the impact Matic could have? If that €45 million price that Chelsea is demanding is true, that’s a whole lot of money. It’s certainly much more money than some of the other names — outside of Steven N’Zonzi, maybe — that have been linked to Juventus would cost.