It has been three days since Italian media broke the news that Juventus entered into verbal agreements with Barcelona stars Dani Alves and Javier Mascherano. It seems now that it’s the Catalan side’s turn their attention to Juve target and Sassuolo prospect Domenico Berardi.
Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo reports that Barcelona is targeting the player that Allegri has touted as the potential replacement to Alvaro Morata, if and when the Spaniard leaves (via FootballItalia).
The 21 year old is easily one of the brightest prospect in the peninsula and is regarded as the future of the Italian national team by pundits. The dynamic player was co-owned by Juve until recently when co-ownership deals were abolished even in Italy. Sassuolo came into own full ownership of the player with Juve having an option of first refusal on the player.
Technically speaking, the right of first refusal means Juventus still holds an advantage over Barcelona, should the Catalans come knocking for real this summer. But as in the case of Alvaro Morata, the player’s will is bound to play an important role in any future transfer proceedings.
Perhaps this is where it gets a little tricky for Juventus, since the player has never been very vocal about his desire to wear the Juventus shirt. It is known however that Berardi, along with his teammate and strike partner young Nicola Sansone, are both fans of Juve’s rivals Internazionale. Inter themselves have been linked to the player on occasions.
Barcelona might choose to interfere in the transfer of Berardi which is due to take place in the next couple of months after director Beppe Marotta confirmed that the club intends to finalise the Berardi deal. “Berardi is a great talent, there’s a verbal agreement with Sassuolo and Juventus have the moral right of first refusal and we’re going to complete this deal.” (via FootballItalia)
Juve remain confident about the player, and Barcelona’s interest in the player only goes to show how well he has impressed the scouts despite having a bad season by his standards where he only scored 7 goals, which is less than half of what he scored the previous season.
