Juventus Set Sights on Saudi Arabia to Bolster Midfield | OneFootball

Juventus didn’t sign a midfielder during the summer despite chasing after a few options and will try to remedy that in January. The department has had some issues in the early going. They are eyeing in particular the Saudi Pro League and two familiar targets: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Franck Kessié, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs.

The Bianconeri have moved Teun Koopmeiners back to his original position, with mixed results. Khephren Thuram has been a little up and down. Weston McKennie hasn’t featured as regularly as in previous years, perhaps because of his contractual situation.

Juventus tested the waters for Sandro Tonali, but it was a long shot. They pursued Marten Hjulmand more insistently. However, Sporting CP refused to sell him for less than his hefty release clause. In the end, they stood pat, trusting the players they already had and giving Vasilije Adzic more opportunities..

Both Kessié and Milinkovic-Savic are in the final months of their contracts with Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. It’s unclear whether they’ll renew them at this stage. Their prospective return to Europe will be a lot easier through Bosman transfers rather than by acquiring them from their current clubs in the next window.

Our Take on Juventus Tracking Milinkovic-Savic and Kessié

They have just enough depth to scrape by if they use Koopmeiners and Adzic there, which they should, given their plethora of attackers. The problem is that they need a proper top player to fix their midfield, and those don’t grow on trees. They should have splurged in this role rather than in a third center-forward. It’d be very complicated and probably too expensive to lure the former Lazio and Milan stars back to Serie A midseason.