Juventus have fired two major transfer guns in rapid succession — Kolo Muani confirmed on a permanent basis from PSG, Alajbegovic arriving from Bayer Leverkusen. But as Calciomercato’s Stefano Silvestri makes clear, the work is far from done in the forward department. The club and Luciano Spalletti appear fully intent on completely remodelling the attack — and one new striker simply is not enough to achieve that.
Why Kolo Muani Alone Is Insufficient
The answer to the obvious question — why does a squad that still contains David, Milik, and Ekhator need yet another forward? — lies in understanding which of those players actually have a future at the club.
Lois Openda has already left for Lyon on loan. Vlahović departed as a free agent. That leaves three attackers whose futures are all, in varying degrees, unresolved. David is widely expected to leave — Paris FC represent the most concrete interest, but the Canadian’s contract and wage level have made a clean exit complicated. Milik, returning from two years of injuries, is at best a third or fourth choice. And Ekhator, a highly promising 20-year-old, is not yet ready to be trusted as a senior option across a full Serie A and Europa League campaign.
In that context, Kolo Muani’s arrival — for all the excitement it generates — fills only one of the two available attacking positions. Spalletti needs a backup centre-forward, and he needs one of genuine quality.
Why Zirkzee Fits the Profile Perfectly
Joshua Zirkzee represents precisely the kind of player Juventus are looking for as the complement to Kolo Muani: technically sophisticated, capable of linking play between the lines, comfortable dropping deep and combining with creative players around him, and yet possessing the positional intelligence and finishing ability to play as a genuine centre-forward when required. His best football at Bologna — 11 goals and 12 assists in his final Serie A season before his Manchester United move — demonstrated all of those qualities in abundance.
Massara’s personal knowledge of Zirkzee from his time at Bologna’s ownership ecosystem gives Juventus an immediate advantage in any negotiation. Manchester United are open to a departure on loan terms. And at 25, Zirkzee is at exactly the right age for a move that could reignite a career that stalled significantly in the Premier League.
The Business Logic: Sell David First, Then Buy
The sequencing is clear and non-negotiable. Juventus will not add Zirkzee to the wage bill until David has departed — because absorbing two senior strikers’ salaries simultaneously, on top of the Kolo Muani commitment, would breach the squad cost parameters imposed by the UEFA Settlement Agreement. The David exit must come first. Once it does, Zirkzee becomes not merely desirable but operationally essential — the second piece of an attacking puzzle that Kolo Muani alone cannot complete. The window remains open. The logic is sound. The deal awaits only the right sequence of events to fall into place.
