Genoa, Juventus in negotiations for Cristian Romero

Juventus’ interest in signing Genoa defender Cristian Romero isn’t anything new. It’s not like this is some long, drawn-out kind of transfer saga that has seen offers come and go without any kind of resolution. But, it is the kind of thing where, plain and simple, Juventus want to sign the player, his current team has made it no secret and then the two teams start talking about a deal sooner or late.

How do we know this?

It’s because that’s exactly what Genoa president Enrico Preziosi told us.

“For Romero, negotiations have started with Juve,” Preziosi said in an interview with Genoa-based news outlet Primocanale (translation via Football Italia). “His transfer will help to put our budget in order.”

Seeing as any kind of Romero-to-Juventus talk from Preziosi or rumors from the Italian press regarding a potential move for the Argentine defender, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that this is the next step. It was also Preziosi himself that confirmed in early-February that Juventus were interested in Romero. A little less than a month later, Romero said that he wants to play Champions League football for one of the biggest clubs in the world. (Those four clubs were Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona.)

All of this coming after a February report that said Juventus Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici was going to be on the hunt for some central defensive help this summer.

Obviously, bringing in some young talent makes a whole lot of sense. Since all of the early developments in the Romero rumors, Andrea Barzagli announced his retirement come the end of the season, meaning there’s already one center back that needs to be replaced. Martin Caceres’ deal expires at the end of the season, and since he was an emergency signing the likelihood that he will be kept on beyond June probably isn’t all that great.

What I’m getting at here is that Juve will be signing a couple of central defenders if the summer transfer develops a lot like we expect it to.

The dream is obviously that 19-year-old captain of Ajax who scored the goal that sent Juve packing in the Champions League, but Romero is the much more affordable option. And, unlike word out of Amsterdam or anywhere close to the Netherlands, Juventus aren’t currently in talks to sign Matthijs de Ligt like they are with Romero.

So, it might just be a matter of time until Romero becomes a Juventus player.