Juventus have reportedly rejected a swap deal from Barcelona involving Federico Bernardeschi and Ivan Rakitic, with €10m not considered enough.
The 25-year-old Italian international has struggled to cement his place in the starting line-up under Maurizio Sarri this season, making just 19 appearances across all competitions.
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While a number of those have been with limited minutes, he hasn’t made it off the bench for the last four consecutive Serie A games, and so that in turn has seemingly led to renewed speculation over his future.
As reported by Goal Italy, Juventus have already rejected an offer consisting of €10m and Rakitic for the winger, and it’s added that the reigning Serie A champions want at least €20m to be included in the deal in order to give it the green light.
It’s unclear at this stage as to whether or not Barcelona will return with an improved offer to try and perhaps even reach a compromise with Juventus on a deal, but that is seemingly a fairly significant discrepancy between valuations and demands.
Meanwhile, another factor which is arguably worth considering is that Rakitic has started both games that new Barcelona boss Quique Setien has been in charge of thus far, and so it remains to be seen whether or not the Croatian stalwart will even be allowed to move on.
After struggling under former coach Ernesto Valverde, particularly at the start of the campaign, it would have perhaps made more sense for Rakitic to move on. However, if he forms an important part of Setien’s plans moving forward, then he may well be sticking around at the Nou Camp for a little longer.
That said, with Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele currently sidelined by injury, Barcelona could arguably do with a reinforcement in the final third to support the likes of Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi, while Bernardeschi could also offer a long-term option in that department too.