The football world at large may still be trying to adapt to the new reality of Paul Pogba’s world record transfer fee, but the rumor mill has already moved on. Well, sort of. It’s dredging up a few old items, and adding a bit of a fresh twist on top.
Of course they concern Juventus, who seem to be at the center of everything nowadays. With Pogba off, they are now looking for a replacement, one of whom has been rumored for some time to be Nemanja Matic. Sources in Italy claimed that Chelsea and Matic were set for showdown talks on Tuesday, but since that didn’t happen — the Chelsea squad are on vacation after all, having been given two days off after the Bremen friendly on Sunday — the rumors now claim that the meeting has been postponed for later this week.
Di Marzio thinks this is bad news Juventus, as it might mean that Matic is staying at Chelsea. Of course, if we just go by what Conte and Matic have been saying publicly, that should not be surprising news.
While we’ve heard the Matić-to-Juventus story a few times this summer, the fresh twist that also didn’t quite last more than a few hours was that Juventus would include Simone Zaza in their bid as well. As to why we’d want Zaza is beyond me, and sure enough, later rumors have claimed that the man who should be not allowed within fifteen of a penalty kick ever again in his life is possibly off to Wolfsburg instead.
So, back to square one. Matić probably not going anywhere. Zaza not going to Chelsea. Center back crisis continuing.