Chelsea have potentially seen their summer hopes of securing a summer deal for Matthijs de Ligt improve, with Juventus having made a major decision late in the January transfer window.
The Blues have been linked with a move for the Dutch defender for some time, with Thomas Tuchel’s current options potentially in need of some dire additions.
Antonio Rudiger is in the final few months of his current Stamford Bridge contract and looks likely to depart west London on a free transfer. He could potentially be joined by Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta, with the duo also seeing their current deals expire at the conclusion of the current campaign.
Should the trio all depart, that would leave the Blues extraordinarily low on defensive options - albeit with de Ligt having been identified as a potential addition.
Reports have previously suggested that Juventus could potentially be forced to sell the former Ajax man in the summer. He would have just two years remaining on his current deal by then and it might be the Italian outfit’s last chance to extract a considerable fee for his sale.
Meanwhile, having also just committed to a considerable outlay for the big-money signing of Fiorentina forward Dusan Vlahovic, the Turin side need to generate some funds.
It appears then that they could be anticipating the departure of de Ligt, having made a defensive signing over the final days of the January transfer window.
A club statement from Juventus confirmed that they had signed central defender Federico Gati from Serie B side Frosinone, with the 23-year-old committing to a four-and-a-half year deal in Turin.
However, it has also been confirmed that he will stay with his former employers on-loan until the end of the current season - intriguingly the exact time when de Ligt’s sale could potentially be in the offing.
Of course, it might be too early suggest that Gatti would be a direct replacement for de Ligt in Turin, with the former having never made a Serie A appearance throughout his short career, but it is certainly an intriguing turn of events as Chelsea also aim to add to their own defensive options.
