Schalke have confirmed that Benedikt Howedes wants to join Juventus while his agent says an agreement is in place.
The German international was linked with a move to Turin over the last few days and various newspapers and TV channels in Italy reported that the deal was close to being complete.
The players agent confirmed to German media that a deal is being worked out
“Juve want him, Benedikt Howedes wants Juventus,” he told Bild.
“We have the beginnings of an agreement. Schalke must now decide if they want to this transfer to happen.”
Schalke’s Sporting Director has since confirmed that the player has told the club that he wants to join the Bianconeri and a deal is close to being concluded.
“Howedes told me he wanted to leave for Juventus,” Christian Heidel said at a press conference.
“Now we’ll take care of this and we’ll surely have a quick decision.”
The 29-year-old defender is expected to arrive on a season-long loan with an option to buy next summer for €10m.
I want Howedes at Juventus too. He can play as a central defender, or right back or left back, which means Juve defensively will be fully equipted. And he was reliable player for Schalke and Germany national team, disciplined and physicaly strong. 29 years old, in his prime. So… bring him on.
Sounds like one hell of a deal too. Option to buy for €10M, can’t see that going wrong. We spent almost double that for Benatia.
I think the loan is good, especially this season, but I’d forego the option. With the personnel we’ve brought in this year, you have to assume that next years focus will be on the back line. We also have many young defensive players out on loan returning and vying for a place in the squad. Next year we should be going out to get 1 top RB, 1 top CB, and depending on what formation we land on, 1 top CM. We’re loaded in attack and with potentially keita and schick arriving for free next summer, as well as already having kean, pjaca, dybala, Costa, and berna. We won’t need to focus on attacking talent for a few years. Also, I have hope for benatia still. He is a player who gains his best form when playing more consistently. He was phenomenonal at Roma when he played every week. I expect with barzagli likely retiring at the end of this season, and chiellini a liability for staying healthy that we’ll see plenty of him this year. Howedes would be great for depth for this season though. 100% agree with that.
I agree with you but I think we should go for a RB this season because Licht isn’t good enough to be a starter anymore. We should go for either Ricardo Pereira or Aurier.
I don’t think anyone can argue with that point. We need to sure up the right side of the defense for certain. A first team quality RB would do so much good for us. I still see licht as good rotation/backup.
I have high hopes for desci, and his best form has always been under allegri. I hope max can draw the best out of him again. I think we’ll probably end the mercato like this unless we snag howedes and/or laxalt. Aurier got the necessary documentation for his work permit in the U.K. So, his transfer looks to be about wrapped up. If that falls through, we should absolutely go all in for him. Although it sounds like we may have some issues as all our EU player spots are filled, so we’d have to offload an EU player before he could join us, and that doesn’t leave a ton of options since a lot of our current EU players are pretty indispensable for us.
But does he have the pace needed to play as a right back?
He does not have the pace. That’s his biggest draw back. He is intelligent and versatile as well as World Cup winner. He’s not afraid to get stuck into a tackle either.
Howedes has everything but speed, but sometimes Pace isn’t everything. Howedes played RB in the world cup (against the most elite and speediest wingers) and proved himself on the hardest stage. And also look at Mandzukic He is our LW and he has the pace of a 200lb 10 year old.
Certainly pace isn’t everything. Look at barzagli. Relies totally on positioning and tactical awareness/intelligence at this point and is still solid at 36.
Rav my friend, great read. Although, if the rumors regarding aurier are even slightly true, we need to move heaven and earth to make that happen. He could easily slot into the right in our starting 11. Could release kwadwo, Alex Sandro rotating with desci on the left and aurier rotating with lichsteiner on the right. Although, I’d still bring howedes on loan considering the age of most our defense.