Report: There’s a Derby d’Italia brewing between Juve, Inter for Davide Frattesi

In case you hadn’t noticed by now, Sassuolo has a lot of in-demand assets on its roster even though its ninth-place position in the Serie A table isn’t exactly anything impressive. And not only are those assets young, but they are also Italian, and being looked as some names that could be some of the pieces that could get Italy back into the World Cup four years from now.

With Juventus signing Dusan Vlahovic in January, Gianluca Scamacca is out. But we’ve heard of Juventus’ interest in Giacomo Raspadori. We’ve heard they could go back for old fling Domenico Berardi, who’s long been the big fish in the Mapei Stadium’s small pond.

But there’s one more name who currently plays for Sassuolo to add to the list of players linked to Juventus during this current March international break: Davide Frattesi.

According to Tuttosport earlier this weekend, there will be a Derby d’Italia of sorts this summer — but it will involve trying to sign the 22-year-old Frattesi, who has had quite the breakout season for Sassuolo. Inter have long been rumored to be interested in Frattesi, a former Roma youth product, but it’s been the last few weeks in which Juventus has entered the fray in the hunt to bring the young Roman to Turin, according to Tuttosport’s report.

The price to sign Frattesi? About €25 million plus potential bonuses, says Tuttosport.

Now, it very much makes sense that Juventus would be linked to somebody like Frattesi.

1. He’s Italian.
2. He’s young.
3. He’s talented.
4. He’s a midfielder.
5. He plays for Sassuolo.
6. Juventus and Sassuolo work well together.

Logic tells you that Juventus’ midfield corps will continue to have names leaving this coming summer, with Arthur, Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot the most logical players to head out somewhere else if a good deal comes the Bianconeri’s way. As we know, when a player leaves then you will likely have to fill that spot on the roster. And when it comes to Juventus’ midfield, there are some very clear upgrades that need to be made during the summer transfer window.

If you’ve been paying close attention, you will have noticed that a lot of the names that Juve have been linked to over the last week have been young and they’ve been Italian, thus connecting the dots once again from what was mentioned above. As much as Inter’s Beppe Marotta — hey, you know, that name sounds familiar — wants to build his team with some young Italians, the same is the vision Juventus Director of Football Federico Cherubini, according to Tuttosport. And adding somebody like Frattesi to put alongside former Sassuolo teammate Manuel Locatelli would be a step in doing just that.

So apparently Juventus and Inter won’t only be doing battle next weekend. There’s already a potential bidding war taking shape for one of Italy’s bright young midfielders.