Juventus have identified Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori as their first choice to replace Manchester United target Gleison Bremer.
United have apparently been scouting the Brazilian international for quite some time now, as the defender has been making waves in Italy ever since his days in Torino, where he won Serie A’s best defender award.
The Brazil international has been an indispensable member of the Old Lady line up, playing 27 times and scoring two goals so far this campaign.
United’s interest in the player has grown as of late and the defender’s former manager at Torino believes he has all the attributes to make it in England.
Moreover, with the Red Devils aiming to land Dan Ashworth as their sporting director, this has only intensified their desire to bring in Bremer.
It was relayed by The Peoples Person this week that the sporting director on gardening leave at Newcastle wanted to bring Bremer to St James’ Park this summer but would now look to convince the player to move to Old Trafford instead.
Italian outlet, Gazzetta dello Sport, add another layer to the story by claiming that the Italian side are already planning for life without Bremer.
It is reported that Juve would not want to “sacrifice Bremer unless offers are not less than €60-70 million (watch out for Manchester United)”.
However, just in case their valuation is met, the 36 time Serie A champions are on the lookout for left sided defenders, who have “flexible profiles like the Brazilian, i.e. those who can be used with different roles and setups: left-sided centre back in the three-man defence, central or full-back in the four-man defence and, if necessary, the fifth body in midfield in the 3-5-2”.
“For all these reasons, the name that intrigues the most is Riccardo Calafiori. The former Roma player transformed from a winger to a centre-back with Thiago Motta and is one of Bologna’s revelations. Young (21 years old) and Italian: he is at the top of the Juventus list”.
The team from the Allianz Stadium “are aware that it will not be easy to snatch him from Bologna, who value him at 25 million. An attempt will be made, perhaps by including Facundo Gonzalez in the operation (the Uruguayan is currently on loan at Sampdoria), but the Juventus managers are also evaluating possible alternatives”, like Lloyd Kelly or Reinildo.
Rumours have only grown and grown as of late regarding United and Bremer and the fact Juventus are so open about a replacement means that there is a good chance that the 26 year old may be the player who INEOS will go for to strengthen the defence.
However, names like Jarrad Branthwaite, Jean-Clair Tobibo, Leny Yoro and Marc Guehi are still very much in the mix and do fit a younger profile that United’s new part owners are keen to implement.
