Report: Juventus call off Layvin Kurzawa-Mattia De Sciglio swap deal

With the end of the January transfer window in sight, the fact that a potential deal that was once being reported as close to being a done deal suddenly being reported as being held up is never a good sign.

And what do you know, less than 24 hours after the Italian media reported that the rumored swap deal between Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain involving Mattia De Sciglio and Layvin Kurzawa might be put on ice ...

It’s about as cold and done for as cold and done for gets.

That’s right, folks. What we thought was going to be a swap deal involving a couple of fullbacks is no more. According to Sky Sport Italia on Tuesday, Juventus has called off the swap deal that would have seen De Sciglio head to France and Kurzawa head to Turin as the other half of the player exchange. This is solely Juventus’ decision to end negotiations, Sky Italia says, with the fact that De Sciglio is valued by first-year manager Maurizio Sarri as a versatile squad member being one of the bigger reasons why there won’t be any kind of swap deal taking place.

From Di Marzio’s website:

Juventus has decided to halt a swap deal that would have brought Kurzawa to Juventus while De Sciglio would go to PSG. But the bianconeri decided not to sell De Sciglio, instead, he will remain in Turin. Juventus considered the deal overnight and came to the decision that his ability to play both fullback positions would continue to be valuable in Sarri’s squad.

Yes, the ability to play both fullback positions is nice.

What’s not so nice? The fact that De Sciglio has only appeared in eight games in all competitions so far this season, the most recent coming over a month ago against Lazio in the Italian Super Cup.

Late Monday night, Di Marzio and the rest of the Sky Italia crew reported that Juventus had “decided to take a few more hours to ponder De Sciglio’s future,” which got the ball rolling on the proposed deal that we thought was going to be finalized in a matter of time only a few days earlier.

That, obviously, was very different language than what we first heard regarding the proposed De Sciglio-Kurzawa swap deal, with Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain reportedly working toward an equal valuation of both players to get the deal done quickly. Kurzawa, according to some Italian outlets, had even agreed to personal terms with Juventus prior to the deal falling apart.

But none of that seems to matter anymore with Juve’s front office deciding that De Sciglio’s value on the squad is more than what Kurzawa what bring. And I guess PSG, who have been reported admirers of De Sciglio all the way back to this past summer’s transfer window, will have to do another direction if they want to offload Kurzawa this month.