With the season beginning on Sunday and twelve days remaining in the transfer window, Carnevali, Massara, and Ottolini are working to identify one final addition to Spalletti’s squad: a specialist left-back who can provide genuine competition and cover for Andrea Cambiaso and offer the manager flexibility between his preferred 4-2-3-1 and the 3-4-2-1 variant he has deployed from the bench this pre-season.
Emerson Palmieri: The Low-Cost Opportunity with a Marseille Twist
The name that has emerged most concretely is Emerson Palmieri — the 32-year-old Italian international and former Roma left-back currently contracted to Olympique Marseille, with the French club holding an option to extend their agreement by a further year. The former Roma and Chelsea full-back started Marseille’s pre-season friendly against Atletico Madrid and is a player both Massara and Spalletti know intimately from their previous professional encounters.
The creative dimension of the potential deal lies in the existing dialogue between Juventus and Marseille over Michele Di Gregorio’s loan. The two clubs are already in conversation — and with that channel open, the Emerson Palmieri possibility becomes a natural extension of the same bilateral discussion. A loan deal for the full-back, as part of a package that sends Di Gregorio to the Vélodrome, could represent the kind of joined-up thinking that has characterised the best of this summer’s transfer business.
Tomori: A Last-Minute Wildcard — but Aston Villa Are Also Interested
Should the left-back pursuit prove impossible to conclude cleanly, a second scenario is also being evaluated: bringing in Fikayo Tomori from AC Milan and deploying Çelik at left-back rather than right. The English centre-back — a player Massara signed permanently for Milan during his time at the San Siro and who has retained the technical director’s deep admiration — could leave the Rossoneri in the final days of the window. The complicating factor is Aston Villa’s strong and active interest in Tomori, which puts Juventus in competition with a Premier League club for a player whose own preferred destination may be England.
The Premier League Options Are Expensive — the Window Will Decide
Two names from the Premier League have also been examined and largely set aside on cost grounds. Luke Shaw of Manchester United — experienced, left-footed, and with a Premier League pedigree that speaks for itself — carries wage demands and a transfer fee that Juventus consider excessive in the current financial climate. Rayan Aït-Nouri of Manchester City is younger and perhaps higher-ceiling, but also more costly. Neither fits the low-cost template Carnevali has consistently applied throughout the summer.
Alvaro Carrera and David Raum of Leipzig round out the list — both appealing profiles, both carrying structural complications around the loan formula that make them unlikely to materialise in the window’s remaining days.
The window closes on 1 September. The left-back position is the last piece of the summer puzzle — and the Emerson Palmieri route, threading through Marseille, Di Gregorio, and two directors who know the player personally, is the one currently making the most tactical and logistical sense.
