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At this point, Juventus being interested in Blaise Matuidi isn’t exactly earth shattering whatsoever. He was close to a move to Turin last summer, only to see that not happen come the closing of the annual transfer window. And the rumors of Juve’s interest haven’t subsided since then. When you talk about Juventus potentially signing a central midfielder, Matuidi’s name is one of the first options mentioned.
So that means Juve are going to go all out and try and sign Matuidi this summer, right?
Well ... maybe.
As the first day of August begins, we have another piece of Matuidi-related news in the Italian press. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Football Italia) on Tuesday, Juventus aren’t budging on their valuation of the 30-year-old Frenchman they just played against a short time ago in the International Champions Cup. That means the €15 million offer Juve have reportedly tabled for the head honchos at Paris Saint-Germain to ponder is as far as Beppe Marotta and Co. will go when it comes to what they want to spend on securing Matuidi’s signature.
The issue with that?
PSG want more than €15 million for Matuidi.
“How much more?” you may be asking yourself.
About €5 million more than Juventus are currently offering, to be exact, according to La Gazzetta.
Knowing how PSG might be spending a whole boatload of money for some Brazilian who may or may not have made the Juve defense look stupid in New Jersey late last month, you can probably figure out why they’d be looking to get the most out of one of their potential outgoing assets.
But we also know that signing a central midfielder seems to be one of the few things that Juve need to do to consider this summer a success on the transfer market. Maybe Matuidi is the guy they sign. Maybe it’s somebody else who may, ironically, cost more money than they’re currently offering for Matuidi. That would be weird, wouldn’t it? Either way, there’s plenty of central midfielder talk to be had until something actually happens. The summer transfer window does have another month left in it, you know...