Arsenal’s interest in Manuel Locatelli has already been confirmed by Sassuolo.
Juventus have also set their sights on the 23-year-old and Calciomercato state the ‘first meeting’ between the two Serie A sides was ‘not successful’.
The Old Lady initially offered to take the midfielder on a two-year loan deal with the ‘conditional redemption’ option.
The other formula proposed was to buy the Italy international for €30m, but Sassuolo chief Giovanni Carnevali has refused this option.
‘Thanks to a superior offer from Arsenal’, which Sassuolo are handling, the latter want to hold on to their €40m asking price. If it’s a loan deal, they need a ‘guaranteed redemption obligation’, along with the loan fee.
Sassuolo’s ‘real wall’ has cooled the enthusiasm of Massimiliano Allegri’s side. However, their desire to bring the player to Turin hasn’t changed because Locatelli has already given his approval to join Juve, which he ‘did not open’ for Mikel Arteta’s side.
It’s claimed Juventus will start new contacts with Sassuolo to ‘try to find a solution’. In the event the two Italian clubs cannot find a solution, Juve could shift their focus elsewhere in the market.
Arsenal hope, as of now, would be for the two clubs to not find an agreement so that they can then convince the Euro 2020 winner to join them.
