According to reports from Calcio Mercato, Serie A champions Juventus represent fresh competition in the race to sign Red Star Belgrade prodigy Marco Grujic.
The 19-year-old measures in at a whopping 6 foot 3 and has been dubbed ‘the new Nemanja Matic’ due to his shared style, stature and nationality with the Chelsea star. He featured prominently as Serbia won the U20 World Cup during the summer and has been strongly linked with Premier League duo Chelsea and Manchester United since the start of the season.
The Red Devils ran the rule over Grujic during last month’s Belgrade derby; a 3-0 win over FK Rad Beograd in which he opened the scoring with a 30-yard piledriver; but Chelsea have been tracking the teenager for some time and appear to be at the front of the queue for his signature.
Following prior reports of a tabled €4million bid, yesterday The Express quoted Grujic as saying; “Nemanja Matic is a friend, he’s Serbian and he has been at Chelsea for over a year. He tells me that they want me. Right now I am at Red Star, we are top of the table and I want to win the title here. I don’t think that I’ll be moving in January, but there’s definitely more of a chance in June.”
According to Calcio Mercato, however, a new rival has emerged in the race to sign the Serbian prodigy – Serie A champions Juventus. The Italian publication claim Juve and long-time admirers Inter Milan are ready to launch similar bids in January; €2million plus incentives, with Grujic spending the remainder of the season on loan with Sassuolo and Chievo respectively.
The story conflicts with reports from England, but Calcio Mercato intriguingly believe the midfielder has ‘already agreed a transfer to Italy’.