Juventus have been in contact with the agent of Atletico Madrid and Argentina midfielder Rodrigo De Paul and now have an in-person meeting scheduled for December according to reports on Thursday afternoon.
It is no secret that the Bianconeri are on the lookout for a new central midfielder after losing both Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli to season-ending suspensions in the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign.
Multiple outlets have suggested that Juve could delve into the January transfer market to bring in reinforcements, but any arrivals would need to be ready to make an immediate impact on the first team.
For that reason, De Paul is an enticing option given his five-years of experience playing in Serie A with Udinese between 2016 and 2021.
As per reports from Tuttosport, Bianconeri representatives have already made a courtesy call to De Paul’s agent Augustin Jimenez and have now arranged a face-to-face meeting for December, when he is next scheduled to be in Europe.
Atleti forked out €35m to bring De Paul over to LaLiga just over two years ago and would like to recoup a fair chunk of the fee they had originally invested according to Tuttosport.
The Italian outlet also claims that the clubs could discuss a potential loan deal, with a substantial fee and an obligation to buy based on Juventus’ qualification for the Champions League.
There will need to be some negotiation on wages though as De Paul currently earns an estimated €6.5m per season, which would have to be lowered if the Juve move is to go through.
Juventus still have plenty of other options on the table to consider, including Udinese’s Lazar Samardzic and Premier League outcasts Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Kalvin Phillips.