Everton and Tottenham remain the only suitors for Juventus defender Merih Demiral, with Juventus looking to sell him this summer.
That’s according to Gazzetta Dello Sport, who say the two clubs are competing for the Turkish centre-back.
Tottenham are likely to hold an advantage over their Premier League rivals, though, with Fabio Paratici’s connections at his former club likely to be stronger than those of his counterpart at Goodison Park, Marcel Brands.
Demiral is one the list of players that Juventus are looking to sell this summer as they seek to raise funds for their own business.
He was brought to the club to replace Giorgio Chiellini long-term, yet the Italian has remained at the club, leaving Demiral on the sidelines.
Thus he is ‘on the market’ this summer, as Juve are aware that they can make ‘capital gains’ after spending €18m to bring him to the club.
They had hoped he would shine at the European Championships and ramp up his value, but Turkey’s poor performances mean that hasn’t happened.
As such, it has been difficult to find ‘new admirers’ and only the old ones remain at this moment in time, namely Everton and ‘Tottenham of Paratici’.
Everton have long been linked with the defender, and their interest appears to remain despite Carlo Ancelotti’s departure, while Spurs’ is coming from Paratici.
He will know Demiral well from his time at Juventus, and it’s easy to imagine his connections at his former club would put him and his new club ahead of the Toffees in this particular race.
