Juventus restart from Lemina. The Gabonese midfielder is now an official player at the J Stadium after the champions activated their option to take him on a permanent deal from Marseille. Whilst negotiations were taking place, the bianconeri have also booked 22-year-old Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi. Tuttosport also explains that the track for Valencia’s Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes remains open, as does that for Medhi Benatia from Bayern Munich. Swiss full-back Silvan Widmer of Udinese also sits on the wanted list and the Turin club may even compete with Chelsea for Borussia Dortmund’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan.  

The Corriere dello Sport claims that Colombian superstar James Rodriguez is another summer target with the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes offering him to the bianconeri for a fee in the region of €40-50 million. In the coming days, General Manager Marotta will seek to get an answer from Real Madrid about their intentions to buy-back striker Alvaro Morata. Juve are prepared to pay an extra €20 million on top of the €20 they initially gave Los Blancos in 2014 but if the Spanish giants decide to activate their €30 million buy-back clause, then he will head home.   

La Gazzetta dello Sport continues to focus on the future of Paul Pogba. The player’s future should be resolved in around three-weeks and no later than May 25. If offers of circa €85 million come in then they will be obliged to listen but if he remains in Turin, his salary will be increased to €6.5 million net per season. The competition, thought to be PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Manchester United and Chelsea, are reportedly willing to offer him €10 million per season.
 

If Pogba departs, there will be a radical shake-up in the midfield. Names such as N’golo Kante of Leicester City, Mkhitaryan of Borussia Dortmund, Shepherd and Rabiot of Paris Saint-Germain are all thought to be of interest to Marotta. With Lemina now tied to the club, the player could be a makeweight for deals involving Diawara of Bologna, Biglia of Lazio and Gomes of Valencia.

Steve Mitchell @barafundler