Throughout the summer weeks and months, Stefano Sturaro’s agent has spoken about how much his client means to Juventus and the club’s view of him regarding any kind of potential transfer. (Hint: Sturaro’s agent made it seem like his client was in the same kind of he-can’t-be-sold category as Miralem Pjanic rather than an expendable part.)
As the transfer window’s end in England gets closer and closer, Sturaro looks to be on the way out rather than bound for another season of endless “Why is he playing?” tweets from Juventus Twitter.
According to Italian outlets like La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sky Sport Italia and Premium Sport, Sturaro is close to a loan move to English Premier League and Pozzo family-owned side Watford. The move would have to be completed before the afternoon hours in England seeing as Thursday is the final day of the summer transfer window in the United Kingdom with the season starting up this weekend.
According to Premium Sport, Sturaro will join Watford on loan with a buy-option at €18m.
— Khaled Al Nouss #LeoIsBack (@khaledalnouss1) August 8, 2018
Sturaro, 25, has been a rumored target of a handful of clubs around Europe during the summer months. There’s been the reported interest from his former club, Genoa. There’s been a few other mid-table EPL clubs thrown in there. There’s also been rumored interest from Sporting in Portugal. Even though Sturaro is what he is, it’s not like his limited skillset has meant that absolutely nobody is interested in signing him this summer.
And now, it looks like Sturaro has landed on a new club.
That means Juventus has taken another step forward in its quest to cut down on the extra fat on its roster. And it also means that there’s another sign that Claudio Marchisio probably isn’t leaving this summer — something that didn’t seem so certain a few months ago.