It was three summers ago in which Juventus was quite interested in a young Argentine fullback/wingback who just so happened to already be quite used to wearing a jersey with black and white stripes. Unfortunately, Juventus eventually lost out on former Udinese man Nahuel Molina, as he headed to Spain after Atlético Madrid brought forward a financial package that the Bianconeri really had no way of matching.
Three years later, Molina is back in the Juventus transfer rumor mill again.
And now, there’s
a second Argentine that could make things happen and see Molina get that move to Turin.
According to a wide array of reports out of Italy on Thursday, Juventus and Atlético Madrid are in talks not just over a potential move for the now-27-year-old Molina, but also his Argentina national team teammate Nico González, who has been far from a certainty to stay at Juventus this summer. With rumors surrounding González’s future previously centering around other moves that need to happen first before dominoes fall, this could be the thing that sees him get the move away from Juve that the club has been seeking while also bringing in another option that will naturally slot into the wingback spot on the right wing alongside summer signing João Mário.
Fabrizio Romano has reported that González going to Atléti could potentially end up being a permanent one rather than a season-long loan deal. Talks have opened up between the two clubs on the González front, according to reports. TuttoJuve’s Mirko Di Natale said on Thursday that there is talks about a potential swap deal between González and Molina, who
Another thing that Romano points out is that Juve sending González to Atlético Madrid “could unlock new winger” for general manager Damien Comolli to try and bring in before the summer window ends. Who that would end up being is pretty hard to say at this point — one of the options earlier this summer, Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho, is now in talks over a potential move to Roma — but if Juventus see this is a deal that could kill two birds with one stone in a way, then it is at least something where you can follow the logic.
Molina is not the perfect player by any means. His playing time under Diego Simeone has gone down the last two years after he started 33 games in La Liga during his debut campaign in Spain. There hasn’t been a reason for it other than Simeone preferring other options with Molina only dealing with a muscle injury that kept him out a couple of weeks last November during a season in which he only started 17 games domestically. So, on that front, it’s not like Molina absolutely has lit things up since that first season under Simeone. (He had eight assists in 2022-23 and a combined total of 11 in the last two seasons.)
González was one of the many players in which Cristiano Giuntoli hoped could work in Thiago Motta’s winger-friendly 4-2-3-1 formation that relied so much on his wide men. However, González couldn’t replicate the form he showed in previous seasons with Fiorentina, and only scored five goals and had four assists in 35 total appearances (29 starts) in his first season with Juventus.
Atlético Madrid have already done business in Serie A this summer, having recently signed striker Giacomo Raspadori from Napoli in a deal worth a reported €26 million.
