Players Agent Confirms Chelsea Placed a Bid to Sign Juventus Star, Player Still Moving to England in January

By Far The Greatest Team

8 years ago

Juventus midfielder Stefano Sturaro’s agent has claimed that Chelsea were set to sign his client before Jose Mourinho was fired.

Mourinho was preparing to make moves in the January transfer window before he was dismissed from the club and current Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink took his place. The 52-year-old was dismissed last month after a poor start to the season in which the Blues lost nine of their opening 16 Premeir League.

Sturaro is currently struggling to secure a place in the first eleven at Juventus this term and has played only eight games for the first eleven, leading to speculation surrounding his future at the Italian club.

The 22-year-old midfielder is currently attracting attention from England, with Crystal Palace and West Ham supposedly interested in taking him to the Premier League, but his agent claimed they are not the only clubs interested in signing Sturaro.

According to Carlo Volpi, Sturaro’s agent, other than six more Serie A clubs, former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was interested in bringing the midfield at the Stamford Bridge, but hope of a deal failed with the Portuguese’s sacking in London.

“The rumors coming from England are all true, there are a lot of teams interested in Stefano, especially thanks to the matches Juventus played against Manchester City in the Champions League,” Volpi told Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb.

“But Juve have turned down all of them, rejecting every approach for the player. £12.7million? The figures could be more or less true, let’s not forget that in England a second-tier team has economic resources that are extremely higher than those in Italy, for example in Serie A we’ve had interest from six clubs, all intending to ask for him on loan. But in England there was also Chelsea, but everything fell apart after Mourinho was sacked.

“The Special One followed Stefano’s development with great interest. But Juventus took him off the market. Juve were the first to be intrigued by the growth of the player, they want to see how far he can go. Sturaro is totally focused on his work. He wants to show he’s an important player for Juventus and he’s happy in Turin.”

Meanwhile, according to recent reports, Southampton have had a £12.7 million bid for the midfielder rejected, but are still keen on the player as a good replacement for Victor Wanyama who has been linked with a £20 million move to Arsenal.