Locatelli can join Juventus for the right fee - Sassuolo

Juventus’ incoming transfers are rarely without drama in this era of financial jurisprudence, and it appears that the accounting sorcery with which Federico Chiesa was brought in might not get repeated with Manuel Locatelli.

The Sassuolo midfielder has been an object of much interest for the Bianconeri for some time now, even before his summer heroics in the European Championships. And just like Chiesa, the 23-year-old player made essential contributions that propelled the Azzurri to the trophy in a tournament where they were not only clearly the best side, in depth and on the pitch.

London side Arsenal FC have been gunning pretty hard for Locatelli but the Italian appears to only have eyes for Juve which is great news for us. To the extent that Sassuolo have had to turn down straight cash to the tune of €40m and bonuses from the Premier League team while they negotiate with the Turin team’s creative package of a two-year loan with option to buy around €30m, with bonuses and a chunk of a sell-on transfer fee on top of that.

Speaking today to Sky Sport Italia, club CEO Giovanni Carnevali reiterated they want Juventus to up their offer, and hinted that another English team had joined the chase with the tabloids claiming that Liverpool are seeking him to replace Georginio Wijnaldum.

“Locatelli wants to join Juventus. However, the club needs to reach an agreement with us. We’ll see if there are the right conditions to make it happen, otherwise he is staying with us. We’ll speak to Juve tomorrow.

“Locatelli also has proposals from Arsenal and another English club that has now joined the race, so he must make a decision, or of course he could stay with us.”

Not only that, Juve are also running out of time with Carnevali indicating that they have set an internal club deadline for outgoing movement, and what would apply even for forward Domenico Berardi.

“We are not selling any of our star names after 8 August.

“Domenico Berardi is our top player, we want to keep him. If an offer were to arrive, we’d take it into consideration and talk to the player, but we won’t sell anyone deep into August.”

Juventus have been placed in the unenviable position right now of having to sell a player first before they can purchase one that could be a lynchpin for a rejuvenated midfield under new coach Massimiliano Allegri.