Juventus midfielder Luca Pellegrini turned down a move to West Ham this summer to fight for a place at the Italian giants.
That’s according to Il Bianconero, who cover the player’s situation as he is set to finally make his debut for the Italian giants.
They explain how the midfielder, who arrived in 2019 for €22m as part of the deal that took Leonardo Spinazzola to Roma, has never made an official appearance for Juventus.
Instead, he’s spent the last two seasons out on loan, first with Cagliari and then Genoa, regularly featuring for the former but managing just 12 appearances for the latter.
He turned both of those down to stay at Juve and fight for his place, despite a ‘tough pecking order’ to climb at the club.
Now he has an opportunity to stake his claim, although the fact he’s already been left out of the Champions League squad suggests he has some work to do to convince those in charge at the club.
The website doesn’t explain the nature of the bids from West Ham or Sampdoria, so we don’t know if it was a loan or permanent transfer.
Given the Hammers signed Alex Kral on loan at the end of the window, though, we’ll assume they were looking for a similar deal here.
Either way, it never came off because Pellegrini wanted to fight for his place, but his name could be one to remember down the line.
