Wolverhampton Wanderers are reportedly chasing the signing of Juventus’ Turkish central defender Merih Demiral.
According to Nicolo Schira, Nuno Espirito Santo’s outfit are competing with a Premier League rival to secure the services of the 22-year-old defender.
That English top-flight rival is supposedly Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City.
As stated in Schira’s tweet, there has been a bid of €30m (£27.3m) plus add-ons which has been rejected by the Serie A outfit, however, it is not made clear if that was from Wolves or the Foxes.
The bid was allegedly rejected due to the fact that the Allianz Stadium club does not want to sell the Turkish centre-back.
Demiral currently has four years left on his contract with the Old Lady and a market value of £24.3m, according to Transfermarkt.
TIF Thoughts…
Looking at the defender’s statistics for the 2019/20 season, it is perhaps not a surprise that Juventus are reluctant to let the Turkish international leave the club.
While the 22-year-old centre-back has only featured in five Serie A games for the Italian club this season, he has earned an impressive 7.23/10 average rating (per WhoScored).
The same average rating for Wolves in the Premier League this season would have made Demiral the Old Gold’s third-best performer (per WhoScored).
Would you be happy if Wolves signed Merih Demiral from Juventus?
Yes, he seems like a talent
No, he's not good enough
While the rating is impressive, it is only over a small sample size of matches due to the fact the defender suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in January which sidelined him for a lengthy period (per Transfermarkt).
The injury may mean that signing the centre-back will have to be viewed with caution as he has not yet featured for Juventus since suffering the injury (per Transfermarkt).
However, the impressive performances that Demiral delivered prior to suffering his cruciate ligament rupture would suggest that the defender would be a solid capture for Wolves.