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Wednesday is being looked at as quite the important day on the calendar when it comes to certain corners of the football world. And that’s not because it’s the final day of the group stage at Euro 2020.
One of the hottest names on the transfer market right now, Manuel Locatelli, will be discussed when Juventus and Sassuolo meet in Milan.
Those discussions are set to go down at some point Wednesday, according to the likes of Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio and Fabrizio Romano and others in the Italian press, with Juventus set to offer €30 million plus young defender Radu Dragusin. These are believed to be the first in-person talks between Juventus and Sassuolo EO Giovanni Carnevali, who has been steadfast in when he would be holding serious Locatelli talks as well as how much he wants for the Italian international, which is believed to be €40 million (and maybe more after his showing at the Euros thus far).
Di Marzio has also reported that Juventus has visions of potentially crafting the deal for Locatelli a lot like what they did with Fiorentina last October when bringing Federico Chiesa to Turin. That would be in the form of a two-year loan deal with an obligation to buy come the summer of 2023, the kind of deal that wouldn’t put a massive financial hit onto Juve’s books as they try to recover from the massive losses they’ve accumulated during the pandemic.
Juventus will open negotiation with Sassuolo for Manuel Locatelli offering a loan with obligation to buy. Romanian CB Radu Dragusin could be included as part of the deal in the first official bid. Price tag: €40m. #Juve @SkySport @DiMarzio
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 22, 2021
Locatelli, one of Italy’s best players at the Euros thus far, has already reportedly agreed to personal terms with Juventus on a five-year contract worth €3 million net a season.
And although it is believed that Sassuolo want to hold off serious Locatelli talks until after the Euros are completed, this is being viewed as Juventus trying to get ahead of the game while reported interest from clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain still gets thrown out there as a possible deterrent to the Bianconeri’s chase of their No. 1 transfer target.
While names like Nicolo Fagioli and Nicolo Rovella have been thrown out there in recent weeks as possible negotiating chips the former Italian could include in a potential Locatelli deal, the 19-year-old Dragusin has emerged as the top name to be added onto the transfer fee. Dragusin, who made his senior debut last season, signed a contract extension with Juventus through 2025 back in mid-April and has been one of the most notable youngsters to come up from the Under-23 team in the last two years.
The biggest news in all of this is that Juventus and Sassuolo are talking about Locatelli well before many of us thought any sort of negotiations would actually take place. Who knows how big of a step this is toward getting a deal done for Locatelli, but it’s good news regardless of how many bids Juve will send Sassuolo’s way after this midweek meeting in Milan.