Seemingly one of the best teams at securing pre-contract agreements, Juventus and manager Andrea Pirlo will no doubt be looking to do the same this New Year.
Juventus has long been competent when it comes to signing free agents – the likes of Aaron Ramsey ahead of last season.
This coming window will be a welcome opportunity for Pirlo to fill in the gaps of his squad, who currently sit in 4th-place of the Serie A table. It’s been a slow start for Pirlo at the helm – the pieces are starting to come together, but there’s still plenty of progress to be made.
Here we take a look at three players Pirlo should look to agree pre-contract deals with in January:
David Alaba
Bayern Munich and Alaba are seemingly at an impasse – the club look reluctant to offer the high-earning defender a renewal and so, clubs from across Europe are being touted with him.
The likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are in the headlines, but Juventus are reportedly in pole position to sign the 28-year-old.
Juve are also said to be keen on a “cut-price” January transfer, rather than waiting on the pre-contract deal. He’d obviously be a solid signing, and a likely replacement for the aged Giorgio Chiellini.
Whether or Alaba will prefer a Premier League move or Juve remains to be seen, but it’s easy to picture Alaba in the Juve defense.
TRANSFER TALK: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are among those who have been touted to have interest in David Alaba. Now AS reports that Chelsea are in "pole position" to land him. https://t.co/so9qcsuNUh #TransferTalk #Football #ESPNCaribbean pic.twitter.com/FKoBfuWOwM
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Sergio Ramos
The Real Madrid and Spain stalwart is coming to the end of his Bernabeu stay and like Alaba, plenty of European suitors are already showing an interest.
PSG were seemingly in pole position to land the now 34-year-old but earlier in the month, reports emerged that Juventus had actually made an offer to Ramos.
Another who’d do a similar job to Alaba and one with tremendous amounts of experience to his name – he could be the ideal tutor for Matthijs de Ligt and the ideal man to sure up Juventus’ defense in time for next season.
Ramos though is no doubt going to demand a high wage and so, Pirlo might need to barter, or offload some names to bring him in.
Sergio Ramos has emerged as a top transfer target for Juventus ahead of the next summer transfer window.
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Memphis Depay
The footballer-turned-rapper is forever making headlines, usually for the good – since his Manchester United flop he’s become one of Europe’s most potent forwards, having shone for Lyon in recent seasons.
He too is entering the final year of his contract and although Lyon are adamant that he won’t leave for nothing, suitors are already emerging.
Barcelona are the club being most strongly linked, but reports earlier in the month claimed that both Roma and Juventus were set to rival them for Depay.
The 26-year-old has seemingly been around for a while and he’s still plenty of room for improvement too – a proven goalscorer, and someone who could potentially fulfill Cristiano Ronaldo’s void should he depart.