Juventus set to do a 180 on Alex Sandro, much to Chelsea’s chagrin?

Chelsea’s pursuit of Juventus' Alex Sandro continues, with a report from the Times earlier today claiming that a club record £61 million transfer is set to go ahead. This follows multiple reports over the last few days of similar progress being made around the 26-year-old left back. However, a story in today’s La Gazzetta Dello Sport is running with claims to the contrary, specifically that Juventus will not sell Sandro, and will instead sign him to a new contract.

According to their report, Juventus have struggled to find a replacement player in the market, despite being linked with a couple new signings as well as a potential option coming back from their loan army, Leonardo Spinazzola. These supposed difficulties have been deepened by the departure of right back Daniel Alves from the club, though what a right back has to do with a left back is anyone’s guess. The report also claims that Alex Sandro is “unsellable”, which runs contrary to Juventus CEO Beppe Marotta’s claims to the contrary (i.e. sellable for the right price if he wants to go).

In short, Gazzetta’s report seems to be going against the established narrative in just about every aspect — the sporting reasons could win over the financial concerns, for once, they claim. Does that mean they’re wrong? Perhaps. Perhaps Juve are just putting on one last brave front. There seems to be enough smoke and enough noise to make it a decent possibility that Alex Sandro ends up a Chelsea player sometime soon.