Leandro Paredes is on the verge of joining Serie A giants Juventus despite links with Premier League duo Liverpool and Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier tells Tuttosport.
After a 1-1 draw with Monaco over the weekend, PSG will look to get back to winning ways at Toulouse on Wednesday night. But Paredes, their £34 million Argentine international playmaker, will not be part of Galtier’s travelling party.
According to Gianluca di Marzio, Arsenal enquired about the one-time Roma string-puller. This comes after Mikel Arteta lost both Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Party to injury. Liverpool are reportedly another potential destination, Jurgen Klopp’s spluttering engine crying out for an MOT.
But Paredes, Galtier says, will be a Juventus player by September 1st instead.
Paris Saint-Germain set to sell Leandro Paredes to Juventus
“Paredes will not be in the group for tomorrow’s match,” says the former St Etienne and Lille coach.
“He has found an agreement with Juventus. His head is elsewhere, even if he is still a PSG player.”
Paredes reportedly turned down Tottenham Hotspur in January prior to Rodrigo Bentancur’s arrival in North London. He will now Juve for a bargain fee of just £13 million. A tempo-setting number six; his arrival in Turin should free up Manuel Locatelli to do the box-to-box duties he performed with such tenacity and guile at Sassuolo.
Juventus have also lost Paul Pogba to a long-term injury.
Interestingly, Juventus coach Max Allegri indicated only a couple of weeks ago that he was happy with his midfield options. Whether he really doesn’t see the need for Paredes, or whether he was merely trying to deflect probing questions, is anyone’s guess.
“We have Locatelli, (Nicolo) Rovella, many good players,” Allegri said. I am happy like this.”
Adrien Rabiot and Arthur Melo are also still in Turin. Manchester United, Arsenal, West Ham and Everton have reportedly shown an interest in the aforementioned duo.
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