Considering that he had the ‘dream of playing in the Premier League’, why did one of the most exciting attackers on the market not end up at, say, Aston Villa, Newcastle United or Leicester City?
HITC understands that a winger who ‘shoots like Maradona’ and models his game on Lionel Messi was not short of admirers over in England.
Championship champions Leicester City had hoped to make Matias Soule their stand-out addition after sealing their return to the big time. HITC reported that there was a confidence on the part of Steve Cooper’s team, too, that a deal would be done with Juventus.
Fellow newcomers Southampton were interested too, alongside Newcastle, Crystal Palace and an Aston Villa side who had already brought in Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea as part of the deal that took Douglas Luiz to Turin.
But while Newcastle, Aston Villa and co may point to a lack of serious offers – Leicester appear to have been the only Premier League club to put a genuine bid on Juventus’ coffee table – Soule’s quickly awoke from his ‘dream’ once AS Roma came knocking on the Argentine’s door.
Leicester and Newcastle miss out on Matias Soule
According to Soule’s agent, as soon as the Italian giants made their interest known, all of those other suitors were fighting an uphill battle.
“We evaluated many possibilities on the market. We understood that Juve had to send him away. They had money and budget problems. They had to sell,” Martin Guastadisegno tells Rete Sport.
“We understood that among the many offers received, Roma was the perfect one. The club is huge. It is in the capital of the world. When the call from Roma came, he asked me to do everything to come to Rome.
“He didn’t want to hear any other offer.”
Soule, like Villa newbie Barrenechea, shone during a loan spell at Frosinone last term. He scored 11 times in Serie A, albeit still not enough to save The Canaries from relegation.
The explosive 21-year-old will now be expected to prove that he can make the step up to a club with altogether loftier ambitions, Daniele de Rossi hoping to lead Roma back into the Champions League next term.
Juventus have confirmed, via Football Italia, that the Giallorossi will pay around £21.5 million. Soule also signs a five-year deal in the Italian capital worth an initial £32,000-a-week plus bonuses.
Juventus accept Roma offer for Serie A starlet
“(The interest from elsewhere) started before the season ended. He has the dream of playing in the Premier League, but he is looking for sporting projects,” Guastadisegno adds, Roma’s meeting with Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-finals of the Europa League clearly making an impression on Soule.
“I can reveal that, in April, he watched the match against Leverkusen at the Olimpico. He left the stadium and said to me; ‘it would be great to play here one day’.
“Then, at the end of May, the real possibility was born. Daniele (de Rossi) was very important, he called him and involved him. And Paulo (Dybala, fellow Argentine and ex-Juventus star) is very happy.
“He was with Mati right from the start.”
Soule has often been likened to Dybala due to their shared penchant for cutting in from the right.
In addition to a host of Premier League clubs, Soule turned down the advances of Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Benfica earlier in his vastly-promising career.
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