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Ever since word got out that Juventus has been interested in signing a tried and true No. 9 for the 2020-21 season, Raul Jiménez’s name has been one of the leading candidates. There have been others, including a certain Polish fella who is currently employed by Napoli, but Jimémez has been a name that we know Juventus is reportedly interested in.
But we are going to have to wait a little while longer for all that to happen.
According to a report in the Daily Mail late Tuesday, Juventus has attempted to offer Aaron Ramsey in a swap deal for Jiménez, and it has reportedly ended up the way you might have expected it to end up. Wolverhampton, fresh off a very good season in the Premier League, know that if they are to do anything close to what they did this past season when the new campaign starts up in a few weeks, Jiménez will have to be on the roster.
Or, if he were to leave, they want a massive chunk of change for him.
Which also brings us to this one thing that is also a major note in this deal ...
However, as reported by Corriere Dello Sport, Wolves rejected the offer as they value Jimenez at £90 million.
... EXCUSE ME?!
NINETY MILLION ... IN THIS ECONOMY?!
That’s ... laugh out loud funny.
On Wednesday, Tuttosport also said that Juventus and Wolves are in talks, going as far to say that Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici has headed to London to open the negotiations phase of the deal. Tuttosport also said that Ramsey could be included in a potential deal for Jiménez, but that Paratici could thrown in a Brazilian or two in the form of Douglas Costa and even Alex Sandro.
(Hey, we know that the summer of 2020 is Swap SZN for our buddy Fabio.)
One last bit from Tuttosport: As much as a player like Costa or Sandro (or Ramsey) might appeal to Wolves, the one Juve player they truly have their eyes on is defender Merih Demiral, who is now healthy after undergoing major knee surgery back in January.
We’ve been given no indication just how willing Juventus might be when it comes to entertaining the idea of throwing Demiral into a swap deal, but I’m just going to go ahead and guess that it’s not nearly as likely as Costa or Sandro considering Juve’s center back depth is always going to be an issue the next few years.
Alternatives to Demiral include Cristian Romero — who will be back in the fold (at least for now) after a season on loan at Genoa — and Daniele Rugani.