Juventus have completed the £8 million signing of Andrea Cambiaso after Tottenham Hotspur reportedly expressed an interest in taking the Genoa ace to the Premier League, via the Serie A club’s official website.
For any young Italian defender, being compared to the legendary Paolo Maldini must feel like the footballing equivalent of a budding actor being labelled the second coming of Jack Nicholson.
And while Cambiaso’s agent is hardly the most objective of observers, his glowing praise of the up-and-coming full-back reflects what many in Italy think about a player who signed a five-year deal with Juventus on Thursday afternoon.
“To make it clear, he is a Paolo Maldini,” Giovanni Bia says of Cambiaso, who will spend next term on loan at Bologna.
“He can play on the right or the left as a full-back, or in midfield. He is two-footed and has flexibility. I think he should be part of the new (Italy squad). He has vision and quality. Italy needs players like that.
“We don’t have great full backs at the moment. For me, he will be one of the full-backs of the national team for the next ten years.”
Juventus sign Genoa’s Andrea Cambiaso
With the long-serving Alex Sandro now the wrong side of 30 and with Luca Pellegrini potentially on his way to Fulham, Juventus will be hoping that Cambiaso has a long future in Turin as well as for the Azzurri.
According to Alfredo Pedulla, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham joined the race for the 22-year-old’s sought-after signature a couple of months ago. AC Milan and Napoli are admirers too. Ditto Leicester City and Watford.
Flash forward to mid-July and it seems Spurs are still in the market for a new left-back. The jury remains out on Ryan Sessegnon, while Sergio Reguilon is free to go. Sevilla are keen on the former Real Madrid youngster.
Reguilon is not part of Conte’s squad for the pre-season tour of East Asia, alongside Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso.
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