Juventus manager Igor Tudor has identified his old Marseille pupil Leonardo Balerdi as his priority target to bolster the backline.
The 26-year-old is a centre-back who started his career at Boca Juniors before being poached by Borussia Dortmund in 2019. He has been playing his football at Marseille since 2020, and is now the club’s captain.
Therefore, Tudor is all too familiar with the Argentinian who served under his tutelage in the 2022/23 campaign.
Igor Tudor keen for Leonardo Balerdi reunion
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Croatian is ‘obsessed’ with Balerdi, identifying him as the ideal profile to pursue.
However, OM have built a brick wall around their skipper, as they remain hellbent on keeping the defender at the Velodrome.
But as the source explains, many factors can change in the coming days and weeks, as Damien Comolli will try to find a solution, perhaps by resorting to his old French connections.
The pink newspaper adds that Juve’s defensive department is already saturated, so the directors will also have to make room for Balerdi, or any other new signing, for that matter.
Which defenders will leave Juventus?
The Bianconeri certainly intend to build the backline around Gleison Bremer, who is gradually recovering from a devastating ACL injury, while Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti and Nicolo Savona are all expected to stay.
Therefore, the main candidates to leave Turin are Daniele Rugani and Lloyd Kelly.
The experienced Italian centre-back has just returned from a loan spell at Ajax, but he might struggle to find space at Tudor’s court, as we’re already seeing in the FIFA Club World Cup, where he has yet to make an appearance.
As for Kelly, he is currently considered a starter due to the lack of alternatives, but his performances have been far from convincing. Hence, the club would relish any opportunity to offload the January signing.
