Juventus are considering offloading both Douglas Costa and Federico Bernardeschi as they weigh up a possible move for Valencia star Ferran Torres.
Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici is looking at ways to improve the squad inherited by Maurizio Sarri, with the former Napoli and Chelsea head coach's 'Sarriball' style requiring the right mix of players lined up in a 4-3-3 formation.
That plan hasn't quite fallen into place since Sarri arrived in Turin, with the Italian often having to tinker with his plans in order to fit big names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala into his starting line-up.
With the club already possessing top quality forward players, it is out-and-out wingers that are being targeted as an area in need of improvement.
Indeed, sources close to the club insist that Bernardeschi, bought for €40 million (£35m/$43m) on a five-year deal in 2017, has not improved during his three years with the Old Lady and as such is seen as an expendable asset in their plans to bring in fresh talent.
Juve had actually touted Bernardeschi to Barcelona in January to no avail, while a part-exchange offer from AC Milan – which included Lucas Paqueta – was quickly dismissed by the Bianconeri around the same time.
Milan, despite having their main focus on other matters at present amid the coronavirus pandemic, could well return for the 26-year-old at some point – this time without Paqueta as a makeweight. That would suit the reigning champions perfectly, with the club eager to sell and buy outright.
Such an approach is why Costa was not loaned out to Bayern Munich in January – Juve only want money to put towards their squad reshuffle.
Costa himself could be regarded as a player in his prime at 29 years old, but the general feeling in Turin is that the Brazil international is injured too often and thus cannot be relied upon as a consistent performer over the course of a season. Given his age, now would be the time to cash in.
Should Juve get their wish and offload both players for a reasonable price, one name that the club feel ticks all the boxes is Ferran Torres, a versatile right-footed winger who is aged just 20.
With plenty of room to improve and a big potential resale value, Torres is highly rated by those at Juventus and his lofty €100m buyout clause would not represent a problem as the player's contract runs out in 2021 and he is known to harbour ambitions of playing at the highest level.
Torres has thus far turned down two contract extension offers with Valencia, but a potential obstacle in Juve's way is interest from Barcelona.
