Juventus are about to formally start the much-anticipated Teun Koopmeiners negotiation with Atalanta but are also looking around if the counterparty didn’t cave and have shown some interest in Maghnes Akliouche, who plays for Monaco, TuttoSport informs (via Fantacalcio).
The Bianconeri will raise their bid once Matias Soulé and Dean Huijsen depart. Still, a positive outcome would be difficult if the Bergamaschi kept asking for €60M. The Old Lady plots to tender €40/45M and has struck a deal with the player on personal terms.
Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli has been working on potential fallbacks should he miss out on Koopmeiners, and Akliouche joins Matt O’Riley on such a list. He has recorded 7 goals and 4 assists in 28 matches last season. The Monaco product has been a regular for just a couple of seasons. He has been called up for the Olympics after starring four times with France U-21.
The 22-year-old can also play on the wings. He’s under contract until 2026 and has a €25/30M valuation. Inter have taken an interest in previous months too.
Our Take on Juventus, Koopmeiners, and Akliouche
It’ll finally be crunch time after weeks of posturing, and, despite the incoming cash, it’ll be interesting to see whether they’ll set a limit to what they are comfortable spending for the Dutch maestro. It wouldn’t be their first hard pivot. They have been playing it safe this summer, but it wouldn’t hurt if Giuntoli unearthed some gems for relatively cheap, as he did many times at Napoli. On the other hand, negotiating with Monaco is equally or more challenging than doing so with Atalanta.
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