Does Higuain to Juventus deal confirm Pogba exit?
If Sky Italy’s sources are to be believed, it would appear that Napoli striker and Serie A top goal scorer Gonzalo Higuain has under gone a medical with Juventus.
Although the report stops short of mentioning whether the Turin club have offered the full £79m it would take to trigger Higuain’s release clause, it does say that the player has agreed a deal that would see him play for the Old Lady next season.
With Alvaro Morata spirited away back to Real Madrid on the back of his buy out clause, 36 goal Higuain is exactly the sort of predatory striker Juve need, and the prospect of seeing him link up alongside Lionel Messi’s heir apparent and fellow Argentine Paulo Dybala, is an exciting one for fans of the Bianconeri
Juve Coach Massimo Allegri has certainly had a busy summer. Deals for Miralem Pjanic (€32m), Dani Alves (free), Marko Pjaca (€23m) and the loan of ex Roma centre half Medhi Benatia from Bayern has strengthened the team in all areas in readiness for the new campaign.
But with €55m already spent, and the promise of maybe another €94 to secure Higuain, taking the total to a whopping €149m, it begs the question…where is the money coming from? Or rather – do Juventus know something we don’t?
The general consensus amongst journalists is that, although at the beginning of the summer Juventus’ official stance on Pogba was that the frenchman was not for sale, behind closed doors that was not technically the case. Juve were willing to listen – but only for the right price.
Club Director Giuseppe Marotta knows Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola will eventually look to move his new number one talent else where and with Manchester United seemingly willing to offer the reported €120m needed to prise him away, the deal represents good business.
This summer’s biggest transfer saga has rumbled on for weeks now with numerous reports of done deals but so far no confirmation.
Allegri has went so far as to say that Juventus are in negotiations with United over the sale of Pogba, but comments from Jose Mourinho recently hinted at a possible hitch when he seemed to drop a coded warning that United had other targets should the Pogba negotiations reach an impasse.
“We established four important target profiles – not faces, profiles – and we got three of them at the very early stage and now we have 25 per cent of our market to conclude until Aug 31 and that player [Pogba] is not the only one. It’s a profile we have, we have options for that profile and we’re going to get a fourth player but maybe it’s not the one you think.”
If the Pogba deal does happen, the money looks to have already successfully strengthened Juventus’ team for a reasonably small net spend.
Back in 2001 a similar situation saw Zinedine Zidane sold to Real Madrid for £46m which Juventus used to fund moves for Pavel Nedved and Lillian Thuram, both going on to become Juventus legends. Could history be about to repeat itself for Gonzalo Higuain?