Juventus’ new CEO is very much picking up from where the previous two sporting chiefs left off. In that I mean that Giovanni Carnevali, all of a week on the job in Turin after coming over from Sassuolo to replace Damien Comolli, is trying to do something that his predecessor wasn’t able to do.
(OK, so there’s a lot of ways I can go after saying that.)
And that is to try get a deal done with Paris Saint-Germain to bring Randal Kolo Muani back to Turin — something that the French striker has wanted to see
happen for the better part of the last 12 months.
According to IlBianconero’s Romeo Agresti on Father’s Day, Carnevali has re-opened talks with Paris Saint-Germain to try and get something done to bring in Kolo Muani one summer after the same two clubs couldn’t agree to anything other than they have different valuations on the player. The formula that Carnevali would love to see happen? Essentially the same as we heard for much of last summer when Comolli was trying to secure Kolo Muani after the Club World Cup: a season-long loan spell with an obligation to buy come the following summer.
The difference this time, of course, is that PSG can’t sit there and just demand €55 million or €60 million for Kolo Muani as they did last summer simply because that is not his book value now.
A little bit of background from IlBianconero’s write-up on the Kolo Muani talks goes as follows:
This would be the formula that would garner the most consensus within Juventus. As things currently stand, there are still some details and aspects to be finalized regarding the conditions that could trigger this obligation, as well as the transaction figures, but discussions are ongoing between the parties, and further developments are expected in the coming hours.
Juventus ‘s intention is clear: to bring Kolo Muani back to Turin and give Spalletti a top-tier signing for next season. Contacts are underway, and the Old Lady is making an attempt.
We don’t know what kind of price that it would take in terms of a fixed obligation that would make Paris Saint-Germain, the two-time defending Champions League winners, actually bite and agree to a deal. It’s not hard to remember that PSG kept baiting Juventus into a deal potentially getting done only to maybe ask for a little bit more last summer when Comolli was, much to his credit, rather firm in his stance on what he was willing to pay and not bite on the Parisian’s demands. And it’s not like Kolo Muani’s season-long loan spell with Tottenham Hotspur was all that much of a reason to think that he is going to have a stock that is all that high compared to last summer.
It’s been reported for months now that Kolo Muani wants to come back to Juventus. It was during the January transfer window when Kolo Muani was being linked with a mid-season return to Juve that Luciano Spalletti was known to want a striker of his qualities. As we wait to see what happens with Alexander Sørloth since Atlético Madrid are clearly waiting until Norway’s World Cup run is over to see how a market develops, Carnevali has opened the door again to try and get something done with PSG. Wouldn’t be a bad way to start his new gig, right?
