Juventus seem to be on the verge of signing Denis Zakaria from Borussia Monchengladbach, a Swiss international described as ‘a mix between Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini.’
The 25-year-old midfielder refused to sign a contract extension with the Bundesliga side and is therefore available for just €7m including bonuses.
He had also been linked with Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund as a free agent over the summer, but Juve dived in first to give Gladbach a transfer fee.
Zakaria stands at 1.91 metres (approximately 6ft 2in) and is physically strong, something Max Allegri has certainly been calling out for in his midfield.
Above all, the coach complained there weren’t enough goals coming from the middle of the park, but Zakaria has found the net twice with one assist in 16 Bundesliga appearances this season.
Swiss international goalkeeper Yann Sommer hailed Zakaria as “combining many characteristics of both Zidane and Platini.”
Germany and Inter legend Lothar Matthaus compared the player to Toni Kroos, while other parallels have been made to former Juventus midfielders Patrick Vieira and Paul Pogba.
He can also be used as a centre-back when needed, can play in a two or three-man midfield unit and has three goals in 40 senior caps for Switzerland.
Zakaria was born in Switzerland to a Congolese father and Sudanese mother, so could’ve represented any of the three nations.
Alla scoperta di #Zakaria, l’universale di centrocampo: “Un mix fra #Zidane e #Platini” ➡️ https://t.co/DKtZBop7DJ
— Corriere dello Sport (@CorSport) January 30, 2022
High praise indeed, Juve’s transfer window is an A and if they get Nandez, A+…
Indeed, what a change from paratici. Look at him bringing the scrubs to Tottenham haha
Great acquisition, but comparing to Zidane and Platini lol hehe
with vlahovic and zakariathe squad is almost complete
still need a top keeper in the coming windows
Juve is far from consider almost complete. In addition to a top keeper , one RB, one LB , one top midfielder and one winger should be Juventus priority in order to consider this team complete
Do Juve ever promote their youth team players? You would think they wouldn’t have to do so much on the transfer market to buy a team. Is their youth training that bad?
So with revenue bleeding hundreds of millions in profit
This new director has signed: locatelli, best current Juve mid
Vlahovic best current juve striker
And zakaria which is equal to rabiot, and bentancur put together
Meanwhile The last director bought 40m ig followers for 100m 😂
FORZA Juve, but FORZA serie a we need everyone thriving to get the league back; no oil blood money needed
@villarusso
Juve has barely promoted their youth, because they are usually used as financial pawns to plug in the balance sheet
You can even argue marchisio would’ve never had his chance to play if Juve never went to B
Not that I agree but that’s how they operate
The new Momo Sissoko 😂
We amended the mistake we made last season. Fino alla fine.
A fine player and an upgrade to some of their current midfielders, but nowhere near as good as any of the legends mentioned in the article.
I don’t think so this is what they need
0 attempts on goal V Milan now we get a midfielder who has scored only 2 goals ???
Rabiot scored 2 goals
Kulu scored 2 goals
Ramsey prob 1 or 2
They need attacking flare not a midfielder who can play on chiellini gets injured at CB.
But guess what this is allegri summed up ..
Don’t concede goals all 11 players learn to defend first
Collect 1 point from games and my CV has minimum losses on my name
A terrific signing. He was virtually the MVP for Switzerland in the two qualifiers against the Azzurri. His strength, grinta and technical ability is what we have missed in front of the defence. Seeing Zakaria, Locatelli and Mc Kennie spilling their guts for the jersey, might finally put a rocker under Rabbiot and Arthur – we need everyone firing to make top 4 and go deep in the UCL.