Juventus could be forced to sell Matthijs de Ligt amid “serious interest” from Chelsea despite their first priority of extending the centre-back’s current contract, according to Tuttosport.
The Italian outlet claims that Juventus directors; Federico Cherubini and Maurizio Arrivabene, recently had a meeting to discuss the club’s summer plans, including De Ligt’s situation.
Juventus even reportedly had a meeting with Rafaela Pimenta, the former lawyer partner of Mino Raiola who now represents De Ligt, on Thursday after first contacts with Chelsea.
Bianconeri had not reportedly planned to offload the Netherlands international this summer.
Instead, the report claims that Juventus want to extend the defender’s current deal, which expires in 2024, by one or two years, even if it means they would have to reduce the release clause (currently at €120million or £103.3m) in the deal.
The plan depends on De Ligt’s answer, however, and if they fail to convince the player to sign an extension, Juventus may not be able to ignore Chelsea’s proposals, Tuttosport adds.
Blues manager Thomas Tuchel is said the one pushing for Chelsea’s pursuit of the former Ajax star.
While the new Chelsea ownership group led by Todd Boehly is not prepared to meet De Ligt’s €120m release clause, the initial negotiations suggest their support for the manager.
Chelsea reportedly made an initial offer of €40m (£34.4m) and one of either Christian Pulisic or Timo Werner, whom Juventus have also been interested in for several months.
However, Juventus do not want any player to be involved in the deal and would prefer a deal worth at least between €80m (almost £69m) and €100m (just over £86m) for the centre-back, considering they spent €75m (£64.5m) on him in 2019.
Such a deal would not necessarily be bad news for Chelsea, though, since they could still raise funds from selling Pulisic and Werner, whom they reportedly offered as part of the potential deal, to Juventus or other clubs.
Keep up to date with all the latest Chelsea news and opinion by following The Chelsea Chronicle’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
