Juventus agree £72.5m fee with Barcelona for Arthur
Juventus have reportedly agreed a £72.5 million deal with Barcelona for Brazilian midfielder Arthur.
The 23-year-old has been linked with the Italian giants over the last year and recently expressed his desire to remain with Barcelona.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Juventus have agreed a £72.5m fee with Barcelona to sign Arthur! pic.twitter.com/z5zEMGo815
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 23, 2020
However, Sky Sports have reported Maurizio Sarri’s side have had a bid accepted while Barcelona are interested in Miralem Pjanic as a replacement.
Sarri is interested in building his midfield around Arthur in a similar fashion to how he used Jorginho at Napoli and Chelsea.
Sky have also reported that both clubs would like a deal completed before the end of June – but Juventus’ sporting director Fabio Paritici has denied the claims.
“We have spoken frequently with Barcelona, but at this moment all the teams are playing important games, so we preferred to bypass this period,” Paratici told Sky Sport Italia per Goal.
“It’s not about June 30, before or after, but about finding an agreement between the various parties, and both players have to be convinced. Therefore, it’s not an issue about dates.”
Arthur’s salary will be bumped up to £4.5 million a year should he choose to move to Turin.
He joined Barcelona from Gremio in 2018 and has been tipped to become one of the world’s best midfielders.
The Brazil international has made 26 appearances in all competitions this season and manager Quique Setien has admitted discussions have been had about his future.
“It is true that we have talked about something, but not too much,” Setien explained.
“The current circumstances are different from the usual ones and will affect the market.
“As for the players, I am clear that all those who are currently in the squad, I count on them and I need everyone because there are going to be many games.
“On outside speculation, I choose not to speak.”
Juventus have agreed a €75M/$85M fee with Barcelona to sign Arthur, according to @SkySports 💰 pic.twitter.com/4LZYuvGEV3
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 23, 2020
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Barcelona are also interested in signing Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan this summer as well as Pjanic, with the club prepared to offload as many as six players.
Mundo Deportivo reported that Arturo Vidal, Nelson Semedo, Jean-Clair Todibo, Junior Firpo, Moussa Wague and Rafinha are all up for sale this summer.