Exclusive: Juventus challenge Barcelona and Man City for the 'new Marcelo' Luan Candido

Fabrizio Romano. Translated by Nikita Fesyukov
05 mar 2019

New talents grow, especially in South America, another territory where Juventus has been very active in the recent months with their scouts coordinated by Fabio Paratici. In particular, there is Brazil among the destinations were new prospects are emerging, the last one that has shown himself is called Luan Candido, 18-year-old left-back considered the heir of Real Madrid's Marcelo.

He is a classic South American fullback, very skilled in the offensive phase, very pacy. He is considered a jewel and a future pillar of the national team in Brazil. The player arrived at Palmeiras in 2015 and passed all the steps of the youth academy, recently joining the first team, as he is highly rated by Felipe Scolari.

Physicality and above all speed is in the menu of Luan and for this reason, he is considered to be almost untouchable for Brazil's U20 team. He is also capable of playing as a winger due to his great attacking abilities.

Juventus have followed him for a long time and are seriously considering an official proposal to fit in the race for the fullback. However, the operation to bring him to Europe is anything but simple. The reason? The less relevant is that Palmeiras only own 80% of the rights for the player. The more important is that there is fierce competition for the Brazilian.

Lyon and Borussia Dortmund are also interested in Candido but Barcelona represents the biggest obstacle and have already submitted an offer to buy both the central defender Vitao and Luan, offering Palmeiras 20 million euros for both.

The negotiations are still standing because Palmeiras are obliged to inform Manchester City of them, as the English club have an option on the player that was inserted at the time of Gabriel Jesus' purchase, given the excellent relationship between the two clubs.

In short, Barcelona have officially made a move for the starlet, while Manchester City is also called into question and could make a bid in the coming weeks. It is a very difficult and complicated deal for Juventus but they really like Luan Candido and the dialogues have already started. Paratici will play his cards, even though he knows some obstacles that are anything but simple to overcome.