Bruno Alves is at the moment closest to Juventus

Bruno Alves close to Juventus signing

Bruno Alves is at the moment closest to Juventus. Let's refresh our memory and bring back Antonio Conte's central defender "shopping list". The players are listed in order of preference:

1. Andrea Ranocchia (Inter)
2. Angelo Ogbonna (Torino)
3. Bruno Alves (Zenit St. Petersburg)

Now, Juventus have tried to convince Inter to sell their 18.000.000 € investment at least three times. Every time the response given was "The player is not for sale." At the moment there is no realistic possibility to acquire Andrea Ranocchia.

As far as Angelo Ogbonna is concerned, the player would love to be at Conte's disposal but his always "friendly" club, at least when Juventus is involved, Torino values him an astonishing 18.000.000 €! For a player that played in Serie B, no matter how talented he might be, this is a crazy valutation.

Bearing in mind these two stories let's explain the operation "Bruno Alves". The player might move to Italy as part of an exchange with serbian winger Miloš Krasić. The russians Zenit are in favor of this operation and now all we have to do is wait for the sides to agree on the details.

Exchange Krasić-Bruno Alves in the making

Krasić to be exchanged for Bruno Alves

Juventus and the russians Zenit St.Petersburg are conducting talks about exchanging winger Miloš Krasić and portuguese central defender Bruno Alves.

The two clubs have had previous talks last summer when they reached the agreement to exchange Simone Pepe and Leonardo Bonucci with Bruno Alves and money. A last minute refusal by Bonucci to transfer to Russia has cancelled the entire deal. Nowadays the negotiations have recommenced but with the inclusion of the serbian winger.

As I wrote before in this article, Bruno Alves is highly positioned on manager Antonio Conte's shopping list.

Source: http://juventussnews.blogspot.com/2012/06/ranocchia-ogbonna-alves-are-juventus.html

Ranocchia-Ogbonna-Alves are Juventus' transfer targets for the defense

Ranocchia-Ogbonna-Alves are Conte's favorites

Antonio Conte's acquisition list in order of priorities looks like this:

• Andrea Ranocchia (Inter)
• Angelo Ogbonna (Torino)
• Bruno Alves (Zenit St.Petersburg)

Why the fuck is Ranocchia even on this list is a mind boggling question. Why he is on TOP of the list is probably a matter best dealt by psychology professionals.

Leaving aside Conte's mind we Juventini now know what we can expect from the marker concerning the central defender position. The main caracteristic Conte wants for this position is good ball handling and passing, something only Leonardo Bonucci possesses, so what the fuck is Ranocchia doing on this list anyway?

Stay tuned as the market evolves.