Juventus are seeking a strong, powerful centre-forward for Andrea Pirlo’s team, with targets including Duvan Zapata, Raul Jimenez, Karim Benzema, Arkadiusz Milik, Alvaro Morata and Donyell Malen.
New coach Pirlo seems determined to create a formation based around Cristiano Ronaldo and new signing Dejan Kulusevski, which has prompted multiple reports Paulo Dybala could be sacrificed in order to raise funds.
Various sources are all confident Pirlo has requested a centre-forward who can bring more power, pace and height to the role.
Juventus are seeking a strong, powerful centre-forward for Andrea Pirlo’s team, with targets including Duvan Zapata, Raul Jimenez, Karim Benzema, Arkadiusz Milik, Alvaro Morata and Donyell Malen.
New coach Pirlo seems determined to create a formation based around Cristiano Ronaldo and new signing Dejan Kulusevski, which has prompted multiple reports Paulo Dybala could be sacrificed in order to raise funds.
Various sources are all confident Pirlo has requested a centre-forward who can bring more power, pace and height to the role.
Duvan Zapata of Atalanta and Wolves striker Jimenez are the favourites, mentioned by several media entities, but there are other candidates too.
Napoli hitman Milik was already wanted by Maurizio Sarri, although the issue remains the €50m price-tag and the Partenopei refusing to accept player exchanges as part of the deal.
Sportitalia maintain Ronaldo has personally suggested his old Real Madrid teammate Benzema to lead the Juventus attack next term.
This too would be a very expensive purchase, perhaps possible if Dybala were to go the other way, but even then his salary would be a huge financial burden.
Atletico Madrid forward Morata was mentioned, especially as he was part of Pirlo’s Juventus, but again would be very expensive.
Far cheaper alternatives are Dzeko of Roma, who would cost around €15-20m, or 21-year-old PSV Eindhoven hitman Malen.
Malen is still recovering from a serious knee injury in December, but he scored 17 goals with nine assists in 25 competitive games for PSV in the current campaign.