Juventus replacement claim made as Aston Villa strive for Rodrigo Bentancur deal
With just a couple of days to go before the transfer window closes, Juventus are contingency planning for the possible departure of Rodrigo Bentancur.
Aston Villa are tracking the midfielder and have had a €25m (£20.8m) bid rejected, while according to The Athletic, Lyon have opened talks with Juventus.
Villa are claimed to be preparing another offer, and Sky Sports Italy says the clubs are ‘not that far apart’ – but now Tottenham Hotspur have been credited with an interest.
In the meantime, Juve are scouring for possible replacements, and The Guardian claims they are monitoring Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Denis Zakaria, and Cagliari’s Nahitan Nández, as potential replacements.
Coincidentally Zakaria was also thought to be of interest to Villa earlier in this window.
The 25-year-old is out of contract at the Bundesliga club in June and is free to begin negotiating a move with overseas clubs.
The Switzerland international has lots of interest in the Premier League, with Manchester United and Arsenal reportedly keen to sign him, in addition to Villa.
Zakaria is 'admired' by Steven Gerrard and Villa's transfer committee, according to the Daily Mail.
Villa are looking to sign a midfielder of Zakaria's mould this month, with Bentancur the obvious candidate.
Monchengladbach want to cash in now instead of losing their star man on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Zakaria - who has won 40 caps for his country - has made 16 appearances in the Bundesliga for Monchengladbach this term.
So far this window, Villa have brought in Lucas Digne, Philippe Coutinho, Robin Olsen – and Calum Chambers, who can also play as a holding midfielder.