It seems to have been clear for a while now that Thiago Motta’s priority signing for Juventus is Atalanta’s brilliant Dutch midfielder, Teun Koopmeiners.
Football Italia are just one of many outlets to detail the possibility of any deal occurring, though with pre-season already having begun for most European teams, the Bianconeri still haven’t landed the 26-year-old.
The reason for that is simple. Juve can’t afford the player unless they sell other players first, and they’re having difficulties in doing so.
Teun Koopmeiners going nowhere at present
According to Tuttosport, the Serie A giants are trying to offload Matias Soule, and both West Ham and Leicester City have made bids for the young Argentine talent.
However, their €25m (+€5m in add-ons) bids, identical to Roma’s which is the player’s preference as to a new playing destination, all fall well short of Juve’s €35m asking price.
It would appear to be the same story as far as Dean Huijsen is concerned.
Tuttosport note that there are eight clubs interested in the 19-year-old centre-back; Liverpool, Newcastle, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Stuttgart.
Not one of them are willing to meet Juve’s €30m asking price, which puts the Koopmeiners deal in danger of collapsing.
It’s understood that Serie A’s ‘Old Lady’ have agreed personal terms with Koopmeiners, but the deal is destined to fail unless they perhaps consider lowering their demands.
What Juve don’t want to happen is for the player to be holding out in the hope they come calling again, but then gets to the point where he doesn’t believe the transfer will happen and so pulls the plug on the deal himself.
Therefore, the ball is very much in Juve’s court, with Liverpool one of those clubs that can unlock the current impasse.