Journalist Guillem Balague has claimed that Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo is being mooted as a potential successor to Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus.
The Serie A champions are looking for a new manager ahead of the new season following Allegri’s announcement on Friday that he would be leaving the club.
Among the names linked with the role in previous reports are Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, but according to Balague – who posted on Twitter – his Premier League colleague Nuno is another manager touted.
The journalist says that Jorge Mendes, the agent who has worked with Wolves to bring players such as Joao Moutinho to the club, has “won influence” over key players in Turin and has led to the interest in Nuno.
Another name to add to the candidates to the @juventusfc managerial post alongside Inzaghi, Conte, Mourinho, Pochettino, Sarri, Deschamps, Mihajlovic… @Nuno has done fantastic at @Wolves and is a client of Jorge Mendes who has won influence with the Juve board pic.twitter.com/VLJ9jVnFLy
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) May 19, 2019
OPINION
We have to bear in mind that Balague is merely suggesting that Nuno is being considered by Juve, not that he has had talks with the Italian giants. But it is an interesting revelation that Mendes is the key man in all of this. There is no doubting his stature as one of the world’s most powerful football agents, and if Balague’s reports are anything to go by, then it seems as if Mendes’s influence has caught the eye of the Juventus board. If Wolves were to lose Nuno, it would be a blow of seismic proportions to the club. He has been the man in the driving seat of Wolves’ successes, both in the Championship in the 2017/18 season and in the Premier League, guiding his side to seventh in their first season back in the top flight. This, for now, is merely recognition that Nuno is a contender, but it would seem as if – as well as Nuno’s experience with Wolves this season – the Juve board are doubly keen given that he has worked with Mendes.