Report: Juventus reopen Blaise Matuidi negotiations

Blaise Matuidi is one of those players that for one reason or another, continues to be linked with Juventus, summer after winter after summer. This transfer window is no different, as it seems as though Juventus have switched their focus back to trying to sign the French midfielder, in an effort to improve their questionable depth.

Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Juventus have reopened negotiations with PSG in an attempt to help Blaise Matuidi become a Bianconeri. He notes that other targets have significant barriers such as Matic being close to Manchester United, and Liverpool being firm in not selling Can.

In an interview with L’Equipe last November, Matuidi admitted a few important things:

“At that time, it’s true [that I was ready to go to Juventus],” Matuidi said in an interview with L’Équipe.

“I was on holiday and I could hear rumours which bothered me, affected me. I asked myself a lot of questions, and the answer which came to my mind was that it might be time to leave.

“The discussions I had with Juventus fuelled that desire.

“Maybe at that time I didn’t feel the love Paris had for me, it bothered me a lot. Once Juve were openly interested, I spoke with [Coach] Unai Emery and he never changed his position.

“The Coach never told me that he wasn’t relying on me. That’s what made me consider, he said he needed to get to know me.

“If Emery hadn’t said these things to me, I might have clashed with the club, which wasn’t my intention at the start, because I love this club.

“So I’d have left by default? We’ll say that. But maybe I was wrong too, the PSG President has always expressed his love for me. So maybe the club opened a door at one point before he changed his mind.”

So he has been close before, but one of him or PSG’s President got cold feet. Since then, Matuidi extended his contract by a year until 2018. He will again only have a year left on his deal, but if he does end up joining then he very well would have extended for nothing and could have joined for free.

Matuidi wouold certainly add some metal to our midfield, and is no stranger to playing a deeper midfield role in the expected 4-2-3-1. He is thirty years old, but at the very least he is a fairly large upgrade over Juventus’ current depth. If the right price can be found with PSG (which is never easy, given the strained relationship), Matuidi could very well be a Juventino very soon.