Watford manager Walter Mazzarri has his way when it comes to raiding the Serie A. He has brought in numerous players from Italy to beef up the Hornets’ squad. Although Watford faced a short slump at the end of the first half of the season after starting the campaign brilliantly quite contrary to expectations, they have again started the rise towards the top half of the table after some quality ship-ins from Italian sides.
Among the influential players stand M’Baye Niang loaned from AC Milan and Mauro Zarate from Fiorentina, last month. And Mazzarri doesn’t seem to stop there as according to reports in Italy, his next target is Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina.
The Gabon international hasn’t seen much of the first-team owing to Juve’s star-studded squad and is looking elsewhere for a lot of clubs across Europe keeping tabs on him. The Old Lady signed the 23-year-old playmaker from Marseille for £7million in 2015 and Calciomercato claims that the Italian giant would demand around £17m to let him leave.
Lemina has appeared only six times in the domestic league this season, every time coming from the bench. The promising talent has failed to take the final step and force his way into Massimiliano Allegri’s plans. He was injured in the African Nations Cup but recovered quickly to return to Serie A action.
Watford will, however, be having tremendous competition in their pursuit of the player as Arsenal, West Brom, Stoke, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and French side Monaco, have all been linked with him in the past and the recent developments must have alerted them. With English Premier League the preferred option, a club’s position would play a key factor in sealing the deal.
Palace are expected to fall out of the race if they fail to escape relegation this season. A similar scenario has been with Leicester City; which puts Watford in a favourable position if Arsenal doesn’t pursue further. Mazzarri will definitely a preference over Pulis if Lemina chooses to join (all speculation we grant you that).
A product of FC Lorient U19, Lemina came up the ranks of Lorient before he broke into the first team in 2013. Marseille wasted no time in picking him up that summer and after some impressive displays moved to Juventus in 2015 on loan. The move became permanent last summer.
A central midfielder by nature, Lemina hasn’t got the chance to show his potential as Juve already have Marchisio, Khedira, Miralem Pjanic and Tomas Rincon in his position. Watford, on the other hand, will get a level up with his inclusion. This is simply a deal Walter Mazzarri has to get done for Watford.
