The Old Lady wants to lure the breakout star striker
Juventus has set its sights on Gustavo Varela, joining the list of suitors for the Portuguese forward, who has had an excellent start to the season with Monza and was recently rewarded with his first call-up to the senior national team. The rising star has caught the attention of Juventus’ management, who are closely monitoring his development.
The competition, however, is already particularly fierce: Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, and Barcelona have expressed interest, as has Napoli, which benefits from excellent relationships with both the Brianza-based club and the player’s entourage.
A transfer to Turin, however, appears unlikely during the winter transfer window. Ivan Juric’s Monza, in fact, considers the former Benfica player a key piece in their fight for survival and would prefer to postpone any transfer discussions until next summer, when they could aim to get the most out of his sale. Should Varela continue to perform as he has in the first half of the season, the Brianza-based club’s valuation could reach 35 million euros.
The 21-year-old Monza No. 9 has scored 9 goals in 10 games so far this season, already surpassing the seven goals he scored last year while on loan at Gil Vicente. Having come up through the youth systems of Sporting, PAOK Thessaloniki, and Benfica, he has also gained experience with Benfica’s reserve team. His strength lies in the versatility of his offensive repertoire: he knows how to make deep runs, play with his back to the goal, and use his physicality in the box, but he’s also capable of linking up with teammates and contributing to the team’s build-up play. The turning point for Monza came with their 2-1 home win over Sassuolo, secured by his own two-goal performance.
Monza’s situation remains complicated: the Brianza-based team is third from the bottom with just seven points in eleven matchdays and has lost four consecutive games, the latest of which was against Atalanta. In the next round, they will host Fiorentina.
