Premier League Southampton are set to miss out on Federico Gatti with Serie A giants Juventus agreeing a potential £9 million deal for the Frosinone defender, according to Tuttomercatoweb.
It’s going to be a busy deadline day at the Allianz Stadium.
Dejan Kulusevski is swapping Turin for North London, Tottenham Hotspur bringing in a potentially elite-level attacking midfielder capable of emulating fellow Scandinavian Christian Eriksen under Antonio Conte.
Rodrigo Bentancur, the silky Uruguayan enforcer, could soon be following in Kulusevski’s footsteps. The impending arrival of Denis Zakaria from Borussia Monchengladbach will, in theory, open the door for Bentancur to depart.
And we haven’t even mentioned Aaron Ramsey yet.
Why did Federico Gatti choose Juventus?
Zakaria is undergoing a medical at Juventus today. But he’s not alone. According to Tuttomercatoweb, 23-year-old Federico Gatti also arrived at Juve’s training ground on Monday morning in order to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.
The talented, up-and-coming central defender will join the 36-time Serie A champions from Frosinone for an initial £6.2 million, rising to £9 million.
Gatti will then return to Frosinone on loan for the rest of the season.
Frosinone are currently seventh in the Serie B table, though just six points adrift of league-leading Lecce.
“He is the strongest (in Serie B),” says Frosinone CEO Guido Angelozzi before comparing Gatti to two of his future Allianz Stadium team-mates.
“He is (Giorgio) Chiellini with (Leonardo) Bonucci’s feet. He also scores goals.
“For Gatti, we are open to talks because we are small and we need big clubs. There are teams that are following him. There will be a lot of talk about this guy.”
According to Italian publication Alessio Porcu, Southampton were also hoping to sign Gatti this month. As were Napoli, AC Milan and Atalanta.
But who can blame Gatti, really, as he closes in on one of the biggest clubs on the continent?
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