Juventus’ desperate search for an attacking playmaker has seen the Old Lady turn to Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze after declining a move for Julian Draxler.
The Schalke midfielder was high up in the Bianconeri’s priorities, but now the German international is expected to remain in Gelsenkirchen after Juve failed to agree a price with Schalke for the 21-year-old.
According to SportsMediaSet, Schalke are demanding €30 million for World Cup winner Draxler, which has proved too large for Juve so now the Italian side will bid €20 million for Gotze as an alternative.
In an interview with Quotidiano Sportivo, Bianconeri chief executive Giuseppe Marotta admitted their search for a trequartista was so far proving fruitless, after initially bidding for Oscar and Isco, of Chelsea and Real Madrid respectively.
“Isco and Oscar are two stellar players, but unfortunately Juventus won’t sign them today, or ever,” the 58-year-old admitted.
Juventus kick off their Scudetto defence at home to Udinese on August 23.
