Daniele Rugani transfer news: Arsenal and Manchester United 'interested' in Juventus defeder Daniele Rugani
Rugani is not in Massimo Allegri's current first-team plans but Juventus see the centre-back as part of their future
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Your support makes all the difference.Out-of-favour Juventus defender Daniele Rugani is being linked with a move to the Premier League with both Arsenal and Manchester United set to be eyeing January moves for the centre-back.
21-year-old Rugani joined the Serie A champions permanently in the summer after they bought out Empoli’s half of their co-ownership deal. But despite being one of Italy’s most promising young prospects in their youth ranks, Rugani has not made a single league appearance this season under Massimo Allegri, and his only outing came in as 89th-minute substitute in the Champions League.
The belief in Turin is that Rugani still remains a key figure in Juventus’s future, but Italian newspaper Tuttomercato reports that Arsenal, United and Napoli are all interested in signing the defender.
Arsenal are currently level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City, but their defence was horribly exposed by Bayern Munich in their Champions League meeting at the Allianz Arena that saw the Bundesliga champions run out 5-1 winners.
With both Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny over 30 years of age, Arsene Wenger appears to be keen to bring in young talent for the future, having already invested in the likes of Calum Chambers and Gabriel Paulista.
United are also still looking for their perfect defensive combination despite over a year of heavy investment by manager Louis van Gaal. The Dutchman looks to have settled on a centre-back pairing of Daley Blind and Chris Smalling, but the broken leg suffered by Luke Shaw during a Champions League encounter with PSV Eindhoven has forced a reshuffle with Marcos Rojo now being deployed on the left.
With the Argentina helping to plug a back-four that has seen Matteo Darmian and Ashley Young share responsibilities at right-back, Van Gaal looks set to bolster his options in the January transfer window to add to his only other option in Phil Jones, and while Paddy McNair could be called upon this evening he has not convinced Van Gaal that he is the long-term answer.
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