Report: Liverpool midfielder Emre Can has decided to join Juventus in June

Emre Can is a Juventus transfer target. We know this because Beppe Marotta has said so — kinda. It’s maybe not as directly as some would like, but Can is most certainly on Juventus’ radar even though we’re sitting here thousands of miles away. You can just sense it no matter how indirectly Marotta describes the situation.

Soon, though, Can could be going from Juventus transfer target to future Juventus player.

Yep, it could happen.

Almost as the clock came closer and closer to striking midnight in Italy on Thursday night, Sky Sport Italia transfer reporter Gianluca Di Marzio is here to tell us that Can has decided to join Juventus on a free transfer in June. He used phrases like “sign once he is permitted to” and “everything is almost finalized,” which pretty much means that something is going to be happening in the near future on the Can front.

The nuts and bolts of Di Marzio’s report is as follows:

Positive conversations between the player’s agent and the bianconeri in the last hours have taken place the decision is by now made. The German will officially sign once he is permitted to, but it seems like everything is almost finalized. In the coming days we will see if Liverpool will be willing to let the player go now since they are going to lose him, but it is a very difficult hypothesis. One thing is for sure though, Emre Can has chosen Juventus.

Well, well, well...

Can has been one of the longest-running transfer rumors around these parts. Juventus has gone a handful of transfer windows in pursuit of the young German midfield, with a potential move for Can on a free transfer becoming more and more of a possibility this past summer.

Di Marzio’s report late Thursday night comes on the back of a report from The Guardian in England stating that Juventus would offer Can a five-year contract in an attempt to lure him away from Liverpool.

In case you aren’t totally familiar with why Can may be leaving Liverpool, a major contract dispute is basically the top reason.

Juventus are confident they will be able to sign Emre Can on a free transfer in the summer, the Serie A side having offered the Germany international a five-year contract worth £85,000 a week and a sizeable signing-on fee.

At 23 years old, Can is certainly worth the risk given that all the money Juventus will be spending on him will be with the signing bonus and his probably very healthy yearly salary. He would also be an addition to a midfield that could most certainly use a little bit of a youthful addition alongside Rodrigo Bentancur, with all of Juve’s other regular midfielders entering their late-20s at the very least.

And there’s no denying that Can can add something to this Juventus midfield.

If he plays like Juve’s last few free transfer additions, then he will fit in just fine come the start of next season. The price is certainly right, so any potential risk that comes along with signing somebody like Can only seems to be on the low end of things.