Chelsea’s endeavour to land one of their long-term cherished targets Alex Sandro seemed to have reportedly dragged on a bit more, as Serie A Champions Juventus are in no mood to part ways with the player. The Brazilian left back is one of the best in the business currently and rose to prominence following a brilliant season with Juventus where they won the double in Italy and reached the Champions League final.
The Blues, quite like Juve, had a more or less smooth season in the English Premier League with hardly any obstacles. With no Champions League to fight for, the London side went on to win 30 games of the 38 played, losing only five. Despite a shaky start to the season, where they lost back to back games to Liverpool and Arsenal, Conte’s reshaping the squad to a three-man defence pretty much did the trick.
And one of the biggest blessings for Chelsea was an injury-free term. New recruit Marcos Alonso, who arrived from Fiorentina last summer, has played 31 times and Conte had to hardly think of replacing him. But, whenever the boss tried doing experimenting with Ola Aina or Nathaniel Chalobah, or when the Spaniard was experiencing was a bad patch, Chelsea suffered heavily. The loss against Arsenal in the FA Cup final was the latest such example.
However, now with Chelsea battling on bigger platforms, Conte cannot afford to give in helplessly in such scenarios and Alex Sandro seems like an answer to that. Max Allegri has immense trust in his abilities, which was seen when the Turin-based club decided to sell Patrice Evra to Marseille last winter without bringing in any reinforcements.
Sandro featured in the Champions League final against Real Madrid where he was solid for the most part of the game in the left back’s role. He has appeared 41 times for Juve last season scoring three goals and assisting seven times. An academy product of Clube Atlético Paranaense, Sandro broke into the first team quite early in his career.
And it was Uruguayan side Club Deportivo Maldonado, who wasted no time in picking him up. After a season-long loan with Santos, FC Porto bought him in 2011. Barring the first season, Sandro was an instant hit with the Portuguese side managing 14 assists over the course of three seasons, before Juventus bought him in 2015.
Reports had claimed earlier that Chelsea had tabled an initial bid of £34.7 million offer for him, but Juve wanted £43.4 million. And now the London Evening Standard has stated that Juventus are looking at least £52m to part ways with him.
