The Italian giants have re-kindled their interest in Chelsea front man Michy Batshuayi.
Batshuayi was one of the many players who were subject to interest from the Italian giants in the summer and they were joined by the likes of West Ham, Crystal Palace and Chelsea. The Blues manage to see off interest from the aforementioned clubs to sign him for a reported £33.2 million. Now, Sport Mediaset(h/t Calciomercato) report that Juventus still have an interest in the striker who got out of their grasp in the summer.
A few days ago, it was reported that rivals AC Milan were looking to take the Belgian international on loan in January in a bid to bolster their attacking options and ease the goalscoring burden on Carlos Bacca, as were his former club Olympique Marseille after they came under new management. Since his arrival to Stamford Bridge, he has struggled to oust Diego Costa as Chelsea’s first choice striker given the Spaniard’s blazing form.
Costa has scored 6 goals and assisted twice in only 8 appearances so far in all competitions. It was widely expected that Conte would use his two-striker system upfront, the ones he used with Italy and Juventus to such great effect.
But Chelsea’s failure to acquire their top summer targets and the horrid state of Chelsea’s defence hasn’t allowed the Italian manager to deploy his favoured formation and he has had to adjust accordingly. This has seen him choose defensive stability over attacking ability and has used only one striker during all his matches.
So far this season, Batshuayi has scored 3 goals and assisted once in 7 appearances so far this season, and he has only started in two of those appearances, both coming in the EFL Cup. It is unclear whether Juventus want him on loan or in a permanent deal, but he will likely be brought in to replace Mario Mandzukic who has been rumoured to be looking for a move away from the club.
However, it’s doubtful that a move to Juventus will see him get any more game time than he already does at Chelsea. Apart from Mandzukic, the Argentine duo of Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain will all be ahead of him in the pecking order and are in much better form.