Juventus has ruled out any more business this January, squashing a number of rumors, mostly regarding potentially outgoing players.
Level with Inter Milan at the top of the Serie A table, conventional wisdom would suggest that Juventus may wish to make some precision edits to the squad hoping to squeeze every last point out of the rest of the season. However, it appears they are content with the players on the books for the second half of the season.
Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici told Sky Sports Italia before their match on Monday against Cagliari that “our window is closed” before going into a few more specifics. He named Adrian Rabiot and Emre Can, saying both will stay at least until the end of the season.
The midfield pair has been used sparingly, with Rabiot racking up just over 700 total minutes this season across all competitions and Can even less with just seven total appearances. Still, Rabiot started the Cagliari match as part of a diamond midfield, and Can is valuable cover for the likes of 32-year-old Blaise Matuidi and oft-injured Aaron Ramsey.
“I can exclude Emre Can leaving, as he will certainly remain with us,” Paratici said. “On an international level, he is one of the most wanted players, but I think he can be important for our project. Rabiot arrived here after not playing for eight months. It’s only natural on a physical level he should take time to adapt. He paid the price for that, but he has done well when used.”
While Paratici did not mention other players by name, his words also seemed to rule out a sale of defender Merih Demiral, who has been linked to a number of clubs including Leicester City and Borussia Dortmund. Demiral started in place of the benched Matthijs de Ligt against Cagliari and seems likely to stay in Turin for the remainder of the season.
Juventus did make one purchase this window, securing the services of Dejan Kulusevski from Atalanta, who will stay on loan at Parma for the rest of the season. Paratici confirmed that Juventus attempted to bring him in this January, but it was impossible to release him from his season-long loan.
The Juventus bench is bursting with talent, with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Gianluigi Buffon, Douglas Costa, Federico Bernardeschi, and Daniele Rugani all named among the substitutes for the Cagliari match alongside de Ligt and Can. Therefore, it’s surprising they have concluded January business just six days into the window, but credit the front office for making quick decisions.
