Juventus reignite interest in Chelsea midfielder — report

Transfer rumors often come in pairs or even multiples, as journalists catch wind of (snippets of) a deal or are fed “inside” information from whatever source for whom it proves advantageous to feed said information into the public realm. Not always, but often. In that sense, it’s not surprising to see another Chelsea-Juventus story emerge today.

So, as earlier reports linked Chelsea with Juve left back Alex Sandro, other reports were renewing Juventus’ interest in Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic, which was a thing last summer, too, before Conte convinced the Spiderbeasty to stay and be a key part of his squad. Given strong indications at both Juventus and Chelsea of big changes this summer despite relative success, that arrangement could prove to last just one year.

La Gazzetta Dello Sport (via Sport Witness) claims Juve and manager Massimiliano Allegri are keen on adding Matic to bolster their midfield strength and defensive presence. They are apparently confident that they can a deal done, in part due to Chelsea’s interest in Tiemoué Bakayoko (no mention of Tolisso, sadly), and are looking to manifest that interest with a concrete bid in the coming weeks.

Matic does have only two years left on his Chelsea contract, but unlike the similar situations of Courtois, Costa, and even Fabregas (not to mention Eden Hazard), there’s been little to no chatter around a Matic extension. That does make his departure this summer a bit more likely, as would the arrival of Bakayoko and/or Tolisso. But until a replacement arrives, Matic must not be allowed to go anywhere.