Everton were linked with an £18.5m summer move for Stefano Sturaro but he could prove to be very useful for Juve in Serie A.
Daniel Alves contentious move from Juventus to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer might have had an unforeseen ripple effect on Everton.
Because, with Juventus failing to bring in Joao Cancelo as the Brazilian’s replacement, the Serie A champions were left worryingly short of options on the right hand side of their defence. As such, Tuttosport reports that Juve had considered the versatile Stefano Sturaro as a potential stop gap on the flank.
This, therefore, ended any chances of Everton doing a deal for the £18.5 million-rated Italian international, per Gazzetta Dello Sport (24th August, page 17). And Juve’s decision to keep the second-string utility man in Turin is looking an increasingly good one.
After all, the Serie A champions are struggling with a number of injuries both in defence and midfield at the moment and Sturaro’s ability to play in a range of positions could be about to come in very handy.
The 24-year-old only started 31 games in the last three league seasons combined and has just two to his name in 2017/18. Yet, while Sturaro is never going to be featuring from the off on a weekly basis, he is the perfect player to have in reserve in times of injury-enforced crisis.
Although Everton were prepared to pay a huge fee, Sturaro could prove to be priceless for a Juve side chasing a seventh straight Serie A title.
And you wonder whether Sturaro would rather pick up the odd appearance in a silverware-chasing Juve or start every week for an Everton side struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League table.
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