Major target for Serie A teams set to make a move to the Premier League

Juventus are still on the lookout for a defender, in a search that begun before the start of last season. Back then the name Juventus where chasing heavily was David Hancko who was at Feyenoord last season.

However, former sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli couldn’t find a deal. Then before the start of this merecato there was a change and Damien Comolli was bought in.

Comolli bought in new ideas for the whole squad including the defence. One of his ideas was a shift from Hancko who was sold to Atletico Madrid.

Instead Comolli wanted to go after 18-year-old Parma defender Giovanni Leoni. However,  he wasn’t the only team interested with initial interest coming from both teams in Milan.

AC Milan are undertaking a rebuild with new coach, Max Allegri returning to the club for a second stint. Defence is still a big issue in Milan. This is despite signing former Juventus defender Koni De Winter from Genoa (Read more here) the club still needs to boost their defence.

Inter Milan also had interest in Leoni with the club looking to rejuvenate their defence and plan for the future. Stefan De Vrij and Francesco Acerbi both had big roles to play for Inter last season.

This is despite their age the pair being 33 and 36 years old. This leaves Inter needing to plan from when they retire or move to a lower level.

Inter have already started this process brining in both Tomas Palacios and Yann Aurel Bisseck. However, Inter thought that if they added Leoni to strengthen the pair their future would be set up in defence.

They are also interested in Leoni due to him having worked with current Inter Milan coach Cristian Chivu last season. Now it looks like neither of these teams will be able to sign Leoni as he looks set for a move to England.

Nico Schira reports through X that Leoni has agreed personal terms with Liverpool. Now Liverpool need to negotiate with Parma to seal the deal but Leoni staying in Serie A looks off the cards