MANCHESTER UNITED and Arsenal are set to battle it out for Juventus centre-back Merih Demiral in the January transfer window.
The 21-year-old is expected to be available in the New Year having been frozen out of the Old Lady side by Maurizio Sarri.
Juventus centre-back Merih Demiral is understood to be attracting the interest of Manchester United and ArsenalCredit: Getty – Contributor
Demiral joined the Italian giants in the summer, but has been restricted to just one appearance in Serie A this season.
The player is behind Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt in the pecking order and has failed to convince the ex-Chelsea gaffer that he deserves to be in the starting XI.
According to Tuttosport, the defender could be set for a move to the Premier League with the Red Devils and the Gunners both keen on landing him.
They claim that both clubs sent scouts to watch him in action for Turkey in their Euro 2020 qualifier against Iceland on Thursday.
And the report adds that the scouts were impressed by what they saw as Senol Gunes’ side kept a clean sheet against their Group H rivals.
Demiral’s defensive partner Caglar Soyuncu praised his Turkish team-mate on Twitter as he posted a photo of the two, with the caption: “TurkishWall to be continue(d)…”
But Arsenal and United face competition from AC Milan who are also looking to lure him away from Turin.
It has been suggested that a fee of £34million would be enough to tempt Juventus into selling, with the North Londoners said to be preparing a bid.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side reportedly had a £26m offer rejected by Juve in the summer before they completed an £80m swoop for Harry Maguire.
The Norweigian recently revealed he may be forced to dip into the winter market, as he said: “On transfers we always look at the long term. It might be one, two or none in January.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
