Juventus are taking their time. That is the deliberate, considered message emerging from the Continassa as the club carefully maps every possible combination of sales and signings before committing to the defensive rebuild Spalletti has been requesting all summer. Before any centre-back can arrive, however, the exits must be clarified — and the prime candidate for departure is Lloyd Kelly.
Kelly Out — and Lucumí Immediately In
The English centre-back has frustrated Spalletti throughout last season with recurring errors in possession and build-up play that, at their worst, have infuriated the manager on multiple occasions. Kelly has a market in the Premier League, and his sale would generate funds sufficient to bring in a more technically reliable alternative. That alternative, Carnevali’s shortlist makes emphatically clear, is Jhon Lucumí of Bologna — still, by a considerable margin, Spalletti’s preferred defensive target this summer.
Any suggestion that the physical confrontation between Lucumí and Samu Conceição in their final meeting of the Serie A season left bad blood in Spalletti’s mind has been firmly dispelled. What happens on the pitch stays on the pitch — and the Colombian’s subsequent warm embrace of Conceição, caught on camera moments before Colombia’s World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, confirmed that the incident was already ancient history in the dressing room too. Spalletti wants this player. The challenge, as ever, is making Spalletti’s preference meet the financial reality.
Bologna’s position has not shifted. The Emilian club are not prepared to consider offers below €28 million — the same figure as the release clause that expired on 15 July. With Inter actively competing and Premier League clubs also monitoring the situation, that resistance is unlikely to soften without meaningful external pressure. Juventus will try every avenue available to close the gap. But compromise, somewhere in the process, appears inevitable.
Muharemović: Still Alive — and Sassuolo Want €40 Million
The Muharemović alternative has not been set aside. Carnevali has not closed any door, and for good reason: the 50% sell-on clause Juventus retain means that if Sassuolo sell the Bosnian defender to a Premier League club — Leeds, Sunderland, and Bournemouth have all shown concrete interest — Juventus would receive approximately €20 million back as a windfall. That sum could then be used to fund a move for Lucumí, effectively allowing both deals to happen in sequence.
The complexity lies in Sassuolo’s own position. The Emilian club are valuing Muharemović at €40 million — well above what Juventus would consider paying directly, even accounting for the sell-on discount. Carnevali is still deliberating whether bringing the player back to Turin makes more financial sense than facilitating his sale abroad and using the proceeds elsewhere.
Ekhator: The Creative Key to the Muharemović Puzzle
The most intriguing detail in today’s reporting is the emergence of a new creative mechanism for the Muharemović negotiation: the potential inclusion of Jeff Ekhator in a part-exchange arrangement with Sassuolo. On paper, the idea suits all parties. Sassuolo gain a promising young forward they can develop — with the kind of young talent profile that has historically been central to their model — whilst Juventus reduce the cash element of any deal for Muharemović. And Ekhator himself, still adapting to Juventus’s demands, would benefit from a season of regular first-team football in a genuinely developmental environment.
The caveat is a significant one. This idea remains entirely embryonic — not yet a concrete proposal, but a possibility being examined. Its viability depends entirely on what happens on the outgoing side. If both Jonathan David and Lois Openda depart, Spalletti will want Ekhator integrated into his own first-team plans as a third attacking option. If David — for whom no concrete buyer has yet emerged — remains in Turin, there may simply not be room for Ekhator in the senior squad, making a loan to Sassuolo the logical next step and potentially the creative lubricant that moves the Muharemović deal forward.
The defensive rebuild, in short, is a puzzle with multiple moving parts — and Carnevali is, for now, taking care to examine every piece before committing to the final picture.
