Transfer rumor roundup 7/19: Morata nears deal, Milan pursue Belotti
By Nick Pitner
Here’s a roundup of the latest news and transfer rumors surrounding which players could be joining new teams in the coming months.
Wednesday’s transfer news is headed by Gianluca Di Marzio’s report that Chelsea are close to signing Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid.
The Spanish striker was the subject of drawn out pursuit by Manchester United earlier this summer, but a sudden turn of events ultimately saw the Red Devils ink Romelu Lukaku to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
With United out of the picture, the 24-year-old’s most likely destinations have since appeared to be AC Milan or Chelsea.
While the former were reportedly verging on an agreement for Morata earlier this week, now the latter are said to be in advanced stages of negotiations.
Formerly brought to Juventus by then-manager Antonio Conte, Morata could be reunited with the Italian in London, where he’d figure to replace Diego Costa, who’s expected to leave this summer.
In 1,872 minutes across all competitions last season, Morata finished with 20 goals and six assists.
Chelsea being close to Morata lends credence to another report from Di Marzio stating Torino’s Andrea Belotti has a contract agreement in place with AC Milan.
At just 23 years old, Belotti impressively notched 26 goals and seven assists in Serie A last season, placing third in the race to be Italy’s top scorer.
On the back of such a successful campaign, which also saw him earn his country’s No. 9 shirt, Belotti has been slapped with a hefty €100 million price tag.
That valuation has complicated Milan’s chase, even though the player is keen on completing the switch.
In an effort to approach common ground, Torino have reportedly floated the idea of receiving €80 million plus M’Baye Niang and Gabriel Paletta in exchange for Belotti.
Although it remains to be seen whether Milan will be able to seal that deal, Juventus confirmed Wednesday that Mattia De Sciglio has arrived for a medical ahead of a transfer from the Rossoneri.
Capable of playing either left- or right-back, De Sciglio made 23 league starts for Milan last season, winning 51 percent of his duels, including 67 percent in the air and 46 percent of his tackles, per Squawka.
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Along with De Sciglio, Juventus confirmed Wednesday that goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny completed his move from Arsenal.
The Polish international spent the last two seasons on loan at Roma, where he led Serie A with 14 clean sheets last term.
With legend Gianluigi Buffon in the twilight of his career, the 27-year-old Szczesny will be prepared as his successor, leading to a four-year contract from the Old Lady.
Last but not least, Juventus have also confirmed that they’ve agreed with Sampdoria to not finalize their deal for striker Patrik Schick.
The 21-year-old was all set to join the six-time reigning Italian champions, until a cardiac issue was reportedly flagged during his medical.
As a result of that finding, Juve have decided to pull out of the deal, which was planned to go down for around €30 million.
A tall, silky center-forward, Schick tallied 13 goals and five assists in just 1,653 minutes last season.