Merih Demiral joined Serie A champions Juventus for a fee of €18 million from Sassuolo during the summer but it looks like he could be on his way out during the January transfer window.
The Serie A outfit have the likes of De Ligt, Bonucci and Chiellini who all play in the same position as Demiral so its no secret that the Turkish international has played only three league games this season.
And if he decides to stick around in Turin until the end of the season, the defender wouldn’t play too many more games either.
So naturally, the player wants to move out of the club and even Juventus are ready to offload him at the start of the new year.
A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Arsenal have been keeping tabs on Merih Demiral and could make a move during the January transfer window after sending scouts to watch him in action.
Now though as per the latest reports, Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City have also shown an interest in signing the 21-year-old centre-back.
As per the report, the Foxes are ready to offer €30m for Merih Demiral meaning they are now the front-runners to sign the defender when the transfer window opens.
Arsenal though are by no means out of the race since signing a defender is their utmost priority during the January transfer window and they are willing to spend big in order to bring in a new centre-back.
This is why the North London club can easily match the Leicester bid of €30 million but what the hierarchy will now have to decide is whether they would want to spend money and energy in trying to fight Leicester for Merih Demiral or do they move to another target?
UPDATE(3rd January 2020):
The Gunners have now confirmed that defender Calum Chambers will be out for a significant amount of time.
The club said in an injury update: “Further to the injury sustained during the match against Chelsea on Sunday, we can confirm that Calum ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.
“Calum has had successful surgery in London on Thursday morning. The rehabilitation process is expected to take between six to nine months. Everyone at the club will be supporting Calum to ensure he is back on the pitch as soon as possible.”
And now as per the latest updated, it looks like Arsenal are leading the race to sign the Juventus centre-back Merih Demiral.
The Serie A outfit are currently demanding somewhere around £40 million for the services of the centre-back and given the state of Arsenal’s defence right now, Mikel Arteta will surely not shy away from paying such an amount.
UPDATE(4th January 2020):
As per the latest reports, Leicester City have made an official bid Merih Demiral primarily since Man City want to sign Caglar Soyuncu this month.
Leicester have bid for Demiral. [@DiMarzio] @Arsenal Hurry up!
— Z (@ZRAFC) January 3, 2020
While it would be bad news for Arsenal and their hopes of signing the Juventus misfit but Sky Sports Italy are also claiming that the Turin based outfit have reportedly rejected the bid which is being believed to be in the region of £25.5 million.
This will surely give Arsenal a lot of heart but with Leicester entering the transfer hunt, things have obviously gotten a lot more difficult for Mikel Arteta.
UPDATE(5th January 2020)
As per the latest updates coming out of Italy, it looks like Juventus are not planning to sell off Merih Demiral during the January transfer window.
The centre-back has endured a tough first half of the season and right now a host of top European clubs want to sign him up. But as things stand, the player might have a future with Juve since Maurizio Sarri is planning to use him during the second half of the season.
If this holds true then it will surely be a big blow for both Arsenal and Leicester who are looking for defensive reinforcements this month.
