Juventus Eye Olympique Marseille and RB Leipzig Veterans | OneFootball

Juventus would like to help Luciano Spalletti by adding an experienced midfielder in January and are pursuing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in particular. However, their chase faces big challenges. They won’t be able to spend much in the next window. Furthermore, Olympique Marseille’s coach Roberto De Zerbi doesn’t want to lose the player, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs.

The Bianconeri had been linked to Hojbjerg a few times before he headed to France. He transferred to Ligue 1 on an initial loan from Tottenham and was bought out for €13.5M. He has put up 5 goals and 5 assists in 52 appearances. The veteran also starred for Southampton and Schalke 04 earlier in his career. He has 93 caps with Denmark under his belt.

Juventus have an excellent relationship with Olympique Marseille’s officials, Pablo Longoria and Mehdi Benatia, who spent time in Turin, but they’d have to be persuasive to sign Hojbjerg. They could dangle a swap for a player De Zerbi covets, Manuel Locatelli.

The Old Lady will try again in the summer if they strike out. In the same role, they have shortlisted Xaver Schlager for a possible Bosman addition, Sky reports. He has totaled 3 goals and 9 assists in 91 matches with RB Leipzig. He played for Wolfsburg and RB Salzburg beforehand. He has featured 49 times with Austria.

Our Take on Juventus Eyeing Hojbjerg and Schlager

A proven distributor who can manage the ball and the rhythms à la Stanislav Lobotka would significantly lift them up, but it’ll be challenging and expensive to convince sides to sell that kind of contributor mid-season. Plus, it’s hard to imagine they’ll part ways with Locatelli, who might not be great but is an integral part of their squad.