Per Italian football journalist Gianluca DiMarzio, Juventus is interested in signing Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso this summer and the potential move has already been signed off on by manager Massimiliano Allegri. Their top target for this summer is still Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli, but Tolisso is a close second. Per DiMarzio, there has already been initial contact with Tolisso from Juventus’s camp with Allegri’s stamp of approval.
Tolisso’s contract at Bayern expires next year and he’s struggled to consistently solidify a starting place in Bayern’s midfield under either Hansi Flick, Niko Kovac, Carlo Ancelotti, or Jupp Heynckes. His injury history at Bayern has not done him any favors and he’s been incredibly unlucky in that respect. He’s certainly had a handful of fantastic performances for Bayern, but with the amount of talent and depth they have in the central midfield position, the club has to weigh his future. An offer from Juventus a year before his contract expires could be the best financial move from Bayern’s perspective. They won’t want to let him leave on a free transfer after next season and they have not indicated yet that they plan to offer him a contract renewal. It also doesn’t help his case that he would be playing under the fifth different manager since he’s joined the club.
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DiMarzio also points out that this is not the first time that Juventus has pursued the French midfielder. Apparently, they also tried to sign him on two separate occasions back in 2017, when he was still playing for Olympique Lyon in Ligue 1. It was that year that he eventually moved to Bayern for €41.5 million, which was a record transfer fee for Bayern at the time. Luca Hernandez became the most expensive transfer when he moved from Atletico Madrid for a fee of €80 million.
Arsenal, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Napoli, and Atletico Madrid have all expressed interest in Tolisso at one point or another between last summer and now and most of those clubs would more than likely be able to put up a significant transfer fee for the 2018 World Cup winner. During the winter, there were also reports that Bayern was ready to use Tolisso to leverage a deal for Borussia Monchengladbach’s Florian Neuhaus, but ‘Gladbach has since said they will not be selling him this summer. Juventus could be the best suited to buy him.
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