Juventus are understood have reached out to Borussia Monchengladbach over a deal for midfielder Denis Zakaria, whose arrival in Turin would allow Arthur Melo to leave for Arsenal.
Arsenal are keen to bring Arthur in on loan for the remainder of the season, but while Juventus are open to doing business, they do not want to offload the Brazilian until they have found somebody to replace him.
Links to Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek ultimately amounted to nothing, while Juventus were also tipped to try and sign Thomas Partey from Arsenal in exchange. But Gianluca Di Marzio states that Juve have now turned their attention to impending free agent Zakaria.
The Swiss international will leave Gladbach at the end of the season when his contract expires and there are a number of sides, including Arsenal, who are keen to bring him in on a free transfer in the summer.
Juve, however, have contacted Gladbach about signing Zakaria immediately as they want to bring him in and allow Arthur to head out to Arsenal.
Heading into January, Gladbach director Max Eberl confirmed that Zakaria could leave midway through the season and a fee of around €7m (£6m) was touted as sufficient to get a deal over the line.
Even if Juve can’t land Zakaria, they are ready to bring on-loan midfielder Nicolo Rovella back from Genoa immediately, although the 20-year-old will need further checks on a thigh injury before a final decision on his standing in the squad can be made.
Talks have also been held with Lyon over another Arsenal target, Bruno Guimaraes, but such a transfer is seen as highly unlikely because of the cost of any deal.
If Juve can find just one player this month, they will give the green light to Arthur’s exit to Arsenal.
The Brazilian has been angling for the move for the past week and Juventus are ready to let him go as Arsenal have offered to pay his salary in full for the remainder of the season.
This article was originally published on 90min as Juventus contact Denis Zakaria to replace Arsenal target Arthur Melo.
Source: www.90min.com