Juventus are reportedly expected to swoop for Barcelona ace Ivan Rakitic in January, but they may have to axe up to three players before they can make their move.
As noted by Sport, the Croatian stalwart was left out of the national team squad ahead of the Euro transfer deadline with question marks still remaining over his future at the Nou Camp.
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Ultimately, an exit didn’t materialise and Rakitic remains a Barcelona player, but for how long seems to be the next question.
According to Sport Mediaset, via the paper edition of AS, it’s been suggested that the 31-year-old will not end the season with the Catalan giants and that could be due to a touted move to Juventus in the January transfer window.
It won’t be an easy deal to do though from a Juve perspective, as having already had to leave big names out of their Champions League squad due to having too many numbers, the report goes on to suggest that Mario Mandzukic, Emre Can and one other player will have to be sold first before they make an attempt for Rakitic.
That in turn would free up a position for the midfield ace in the squad for the Champions League and avoid leaving him frustrated and questioning a move in the first place.
Time will tell just how straight-forward that process is as with the reigning Serie A champions struggling to offload players already this summer which led to the position they’ve found themselves in, it remains to be seen what changes over the course of a few months to allow them to find a solution.
As noted by the Guardian, Can was left fuming with the decision to snub him for Europe, and so the last thing that Juventus should now do is add another number to the squad without making space for him first.
