Juventus are, once again, trying to bring Randal Kolo Muani to Turin this summer. Just as they did last summer after his short-term loan spell ended. And just as they did during the winter transfer window when Luciano Spalletti made it no secret that he wanted the club to sign a new striker. (Narrator: they didn’t.)
So, how are those talks going for new Juve CEO Giovanni Carnevali?
Wellllllllllllllllll …
Here is what Carnevali said about things on the Kolo Muani front during an interview with Sky Italia
on Tuesday evening:
“The demands for Kolo Muani haven’t been lowered, and we haven’t raised our offer, but we’re working across the board . I wouldn’t focus solely on him. If there’s a long gap, we need to make the right assessments; we’re trying to do the best we can.”
(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)
Well, that’s not exactly encouraging. huh? It’s not a very long answer, but it is one that pretty much sums up what a lot of the reporting around the entire Kolo Muani negotiation process the last few weeks since Carnevali took over for Damien Comolli (and obviously well before that when somebody else was in talks with Paris Saint-Germain).
Don’t forget that it was a little over a week ago that Carnevali said that “relations with PSG (are) also being mended” during these same Kolo Muani negotiations. So there’s that, and then on top of it what sounds like a good amount of distance between what Juventus are willing to pay for Kolo Muani and what PSG are still demanding despite the fact that we’re now a second summer into these talks and the price of last summer is naturally not the same as this summer.
Juventus, by all accounts, seem plenty willing to sign Kolo Muani on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy next summer. However, like Carnevali says, it’s the price that is the sticking point between the two clubs.
Kolo Muani has already agreed to personal terms on a five-year contract with Juventus, according to reports late last month.
