Juventus are on the verge of completing a transfer for Schalke defender Benedikt Höwedes.
Initial reports from Bild in Germany suggested yesterday that Juve were in the lead to sign the international defender who also attracted interest from Liverpool.
Goal Italia, Corriere dello Sport and Sky Sport Italia all report that Juventus are in advanced negotiations and a deal could be in the offing very soon.
Juventus director Beppe Marotta all but confirmed that a deal is close when asked at the Champions League draw earlier today.
“We are looking at some defenders, as we will certainly intervene in that area before the end of the window” Marotta told reporters in Monaco.
“If we can find someone eclectic who can play both in the centre of defence and on the flank, that’d be better.
“Howedes? You are very intuitive. We won’t deny that we had contacts, Howedes represents an interesting profile, but we still have to work out contractual issues with him and with Schalke 04. He is an option, perhaps more than just a hypothesis.”
Is he good enough for right back or an upgrade on Benetia?
He is more than upgrade on Benatia mate.
He is a wonderful player who you really hate when your team meets his team. About Benatia though, even though I agree with you guys about him not being a good purchase but maybe we need to give him some time and affection in order to see him good enough for our team. Remember he’s still young and enough talented to get better. Just take it easy at him. We still need players in three fronts. I’m sure he can contribute some while getting better. Remember Bonucci in early years @ Juventus? I hated his flapping arms costing us a number of penalties. Or do I miss-recall (sorry, couldn’t find a better word therefore I made up one)..
Lol Benatia will be 31 in 8 months mate.And yep i clearly remember Bonnuci’s first season at Juve.Total disaster.Back then, i really thougt that inter made better deal when they bought rannochia lol
Captain for his club side and a regular for one of the strongest national sides on the planet since boyhood. Also able to play on either flank at the back. Only question marks are how he has recovered from his groin operation and how bothersome Schalke will prove in negotiations.
No he wont come. Schalke is extremely difficult in negotations. Especially with us. He will join Klopp.
It would be great to see a second german player at Vinovo.
We ll see…
Let’s say he is brought in. Will this mean that Rugani won’t keep on playing from start? Or is Benedict Cumberbatch thought to be thrown in wherever necessary? The later seems not so realistic. A captain in a big German team, a national team player wouldn’t change to a team just to feel like he is apart of something great, without really contributing to that success.
From the reports i read, it’s just the details that are missing – Juve worked quickly to get him and are close to agreeing the deal – Personally, i think it’s a great deal. A steely German type to play at the back, a leader, probably being signed at the right time, 29 years old, still a good few miles in the tank yet. Excellent business. Can see him and Rugani being the ones we look too in the long term along with Caldara, I don’t think his arrival will mean that Rugani plays less – We need someone now rather than next summer when Barzagli will be leaving.
Agree on the need for a starting CB. We lost our strongest, CHiellini is nowhere near the player he used to be, sometimes great, sometimes hapless, sometimes unfit. Barzagli is even closer to being put out to pasture. Benatia? One of our poorest signings of recent times, just to shore up gaps now and then. So we need someone solid, experienced and a leader. The Germ seems potentially to meet all our requirements…
Agreed on all points sir, it seems that the benatia signing was in good faith with Bayern. Pretty sure it was done just to keep a good relationship with the German team. We most likely got Costa on loan as a result in my opinion because Bayern probably wanted to sell him instead and could’ve gotten 30-45 million easily with English teams knocking. It’s the general cost of doing business so in the end we made good on it. Howedes seems promising but Schalke is indeed a strange club, remember the Draxler fiasco last year? Beppe stated he’s never seen a stranger club to deal with in business terms. I kind of agree, the club has one of the best academies in the world yet are constantly losing players.
It felt wrong from the start for me, my friend…but you are right, of course, the loan was always leading to the purchase, and we do like top keep on good terms with the club. I assume that the Tolisso deal was more directly connected to Costa. We needed a player of his talent, strength and versatility, had him in hand…then changed our minds and ended up with Doug.