Juventus director holds transfer talks with Man Utd, Man City over €75m double deal

Juventus technical director Cristiano Giuntoli reportedly held transfer talks with Manchester United and Manchester City about the possibility of selling two of their players in January.

Both Man Utd and City have been linked with a whole host of players ahead of the winter transfer window; the former, partly, off the back of Ruben Amorim’s Old Trafford arrival and the latter due to Rodri’s serious knee injury.

The outlook for the two Manchester clubs is currently fairly bleak but for different reasons. United are languishing down in 12th in the Premier League whereas City have gone six games without a win – which is unheard of in Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking era.

Amid all this despondency amongst their respective fanbases, reports in Italy claim Giuntoli has met with United and City representatives about a possible deal for two of Juve’s midfielders.

Gazzetta dello Sport claims the sporting director was in Manchester this week as the Turin team allegedly want to sell Nicolo Fagioli and Douglas Luiz – who only signed for the Serie A team in June from Aston Villa for £42.35m (€50m, $52.7m).

The report adds Juve want to sell the midfield duo to sign a defender and a striker in January. The Italian giants would reportedly want €20-25m (£16.6-20.8m) for Fagioli and €50m for Luiz, or be willing to use the Brazilian as part of a swap deal.

Incidentally, Gazzetta added that Juve’s interest in a loan deal for United striker Joshua Zirkzee is a ‘complicated track’.

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A disastrous transfer

Luiz swapped Villa for Juventus in an eye-catching move over the summer but that transfer has not worked out for all parties.

The 26-year-old has made just nine appearances so far for Thiago Motta’s team and just two of them have been in the starting XI.

While a muscle injury has not helped his cause in recent weeks, the fact that there are transfer rumours linking him with an exit from the Old Lady already is not a good sign.

Fagioli, 23, has featured more regularly for Juve this term, making 14 appearances in all competitions. But still, just six of those have been in the starting XI.

On the face of it, it seems unlikely that either City or United will fork out such big fees for this Juventus duo – especially in January where overinflated prices are a winter transfer window hazard.

Man Utd to battle Man City

United are reportedly confident of beating Manchester City to Sporting CP star Morten Hjulmand in January, with Amorim said to be keen on a reunion with his former charge.

The 25-year-old Denmark international, whose deal runs until 2028, reportedly has a €80m (£66.6m, $84.4m) clause – which some teams will not be put off by. 

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen are ‘taking on the fight’ to keep Florian Wirtz amid transfer links with City and Arsenal.

The German team want to tie the 21-year-old down to a new and improved contract, with his current terms running until 2027.

Finally, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has insisted that Christopher Nkunku will not leave the club in January, amid links with United.