Juventus ‘in talks’ with Chelsea over Nemanja Matić — reports

Nemanja Matić is back in the news in Italy on Saturday, this time linked heavily with Juventus on the cover of Corriere dello Sport.

Of course, just because it’s on the cover, it doesn’t mean it’s any more likely to happen — see: Tuttosport’s hilarious claim that Chelsea bid €100m for 30-year-old Gonzalo Higuaín, which takes up basically their entire front page — but Matić is edging closer to a Chelsea exit and the accepted (and reasonable) narrative is that Chelsea would prefer to sell to Italy rather than to Manchester United.

According to the report, Juve are in negotiations with Chelsea for the 28-year-old midfielder. Earlier, Sky Italia had run a similar story, with a proposed price tag of €45m quoted by the Blues after Juventus had rejected a deal involving Alex Sandro. Due to said rejection, the contact between the two teams was said to be “not positive” though Corriere seem convinced otherwise.

Neither the Inter nor the Juve fronts seem all that promising at the moment, but Matić is set to miss Chelsea’s tour and is likely heading for the exit door, so something needs to be worked out eventually.