Arsenal are claimed to have made a new offer of €40 Million for Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli, while Juventus drag their feet on their end.
The midfielder has long-been said to be favouring the move to the Old Lady, and a whole two weeks after the Gunners were said to be the only club to have made a ‘concrete offer’ for his signature, he still remains with the Neroverdi.
The 23 year-old will be on holiday at present, although you would imagine he would have no issue travelling to sort out his future, while Juventus have seemingly remained nonchalant in their comments when quizzed about their attempts to sign him.
The Gunners now look to be upping the tempo as they look to beat the Italian giants to Locatelli signature, with Tancredi Palmer claiming that Arsenal have lodged an offer of €40 Million.
If this is a straight cash offer, this could well pile pressure on Max Allegri’s side, who are believed to have financial difficulties at present, and were probably hoping to work on a deal which would include future payments, much like they have done in recent deals to sign Federico Chiesa, Weston McKennie and Alvaro Morata, who all arrived on loan with an option/obligation to buy.
Juventus slow approach could well have been with the wish of not distracting the midfielder from his duty with Italy at the European Championships, but with the competition finished at this point, there is little excuse now.
I must admit, I didn’t have much belief that we would be able to get this deal over the line, as I believed Sassuolo were naming us simply to gain power over Juventus in negotiations, but as things stand, we look to be in a good position to get this done, although it will all boil down to Juve it seems.
Patrick