Juventus line up Álvaro Morata as an alternative to Luis Suárez
The difficulties Juve face to sign Luis Suárez and Dzeko have forced the Italian champions to look into other options. Morata is one of them.
Juventus need to sign a centre-forward as soon as possible but plans to bring either of the top two players on their wish list have hit problems. Luis Suárez is the one who the fan would love to see in Turin. The club has an agreement with the Uruguayan (10 million euros gross, including bonuses), but the two obstacles which have stopped the operation from going ahead remain. Firstly, the player has yet to reach an agreement with Barcelona over his severance package (he has a year left to run on his contract and a 15 million euro salary, plus the option sign a one-year extension) and secondly, he needs to sort out the issue of his passport. Suárez would need to pass an Italian language test and resolve a few bureaucratic details which normally take around one month to sort out.
Dzeko - Pirlo's choice
In Turin, there is still a feeling of optimism that the operation will go through, but they cannot be 100% certain and that means having a contingency plan. Edin Dzeko is Pirlo's choice to place just behind Cristiano and Dybala in a 3-4-1-2 set-up. There is an agreement in place with Roma and the player but the Giallorossi are not willing to let him leave until they have completed the signing of Milik from Napoli in a deal which will see Cengiz Under move in the opposite direction. It's another complicated operation which includes pitfalls, so Juve need other alternatives.
Today, the club has been linked with a player they known every well - Álvaro Morata. Football agent Giovanni Branchini, who is well informed about all of the Vecchia Signora's dealings, told Radio Deejay that Morata is looking like the candidate who will be brought in. Diario AS understands that Juve have out together a technical dossier on the Atleti forward, who they were delighted with during the two seasons he spent at the club from 2014-16 before being recovered by Real Madrid. The Italians could include players on their transfer list in a deal with Atleti - Bernardeschi, Ramsey and Douglas Costa are among the players who could be departing. Atleti however, would want a high price for Morata - over 80 million euros. And the silence from his agent Juanma López is deafening... In the meantime, Pirlo continues to use Gonzalo Higuaín (who will be leaving soon) in the team's practice matches until something else turns up…