Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has reported that it is Juventus leading race for Sassuolo midfielder Manuel Locatelli despite interest from Mikel Arteta and Arsenal who are also looking to bolster the middle of the park during the summer transfer window.
Romano has tweeted that Juventus have always been in the driving seat for the player.
Juventus Leading Race for Manuel Locatelli
Juventus are always leading the race for Locatelli – new meeting soon with Sassuolo, Manuel is still pushing to join Juve. 🇮🇹
Arsenal’s stance: they’d be prepared to pay Sassuolo price tag [€40m]… but #AFC only want to sign players happy and 100% convinced to join the club.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 18, 2021
Euro’s Success for Locatelli Caught the Eye
Impressive performances for Italy on the road to winning the European Championships saw Locatelli capture the eye of Europe’s top clubs with both Arsenal and Juventus the main contenders for his signature.
CEO of Locatelli’s current club Sassuolo, Giovanni Carnevali has said that advanced negotiations have been taking place between themselves and an unnamed club whilst also confirming that Arsenal have made an ‘important’ bid for the player. Sky Sports News reported Carnevali as saying;
“It’s true that other clubs from abroad are interested, Arsenal are one of these and they are ahead of everyone else because they tabled the only concrete offer we have received so far.”
Arsenal Happy to Pay Price
Romano states that whilst Arsenal are happy to pay the price for Locatelli of around €40 million they also only want players who see the club as their first choice and will be fully focused on their attempts to get back into the Champions League.
Carnevali also confirmed that his club and Juventus have an excellent relationship;
“There is interest from their side, we haven’t explored all the terms and evaluations, but we have an excellent relationship with Juventus so we will continue these talks.”
No other Italian clubs have been linked with Locatelli leaving Juventus with a seemingly open road to capture the player.
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