A quick look to the calendar tells us there’s still quite a bit of time before Juventus actually does its first business of the summer of 2018.  At least, that’s when they can officially buy and sell players — which is obviously we hope is something that turns into quality being added in droves and nobody of substance leaving once again. 

Leave it to Tuttosport to start speculating IN OCTOBER as to who Juventus’ 2018 summer mercato will be centered around. 

According to the Turin-based sports daily, Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić is going to be that guy, with Juventus set on trying to pry the dynamic 22-year-old Serbian away from Claudio Lotito’s hands.  And to have Milinković-Savić potentially wear those lovely black and white stripes of ours in the somewhat-near future, the cost of signing him would be a cool €80 million. 

Let me repeat: EIGHTY MILLION EUROS. 

Let me check ... yep, that’s a lot of money. 

Throw out the price tag for a second here because who the heck knows how much it would ACTUALLY cost to sign Milinković-Savić next summer.  Do it, because worrying about transfer fees right now is something that I don’t want to see take place. 

I want to pose you this question: Could this be one of the most logical transfer rumors during an international break that Tuttosport has ever thrown out there? 

Sure, this is the same Italian daily newspaper that linked Andres Iniesta with a move to Juventus for a decent amount of time this summer and then again not too long before he signed one final contract extension at Barcelona.  This is the same paper that has thrown out baseless rumor after baseless and then recycled them time after time because that’s the way Tuttosport rolls. 

But when it comes to Milinković-Savić, it makes a lot of sense.  No, seriously.  This is a Tuttosport rumor that makes a whoooooole lot of sense.  So much so that I’m sure there are plenty of folks who were hoping Juventus would have tried to sign Milinković-Savić this past summer. 

Why? 

Because Juventus’ midfield isn’t getting any younger, and at 22 years old, Milinković-Savić has only tapped his immense potential.  He’s only getting better and will surely be moving onto bigger and brighter things in the next few years, if not sooner. 

That’s why this Tuttosport rumor actually makes sense.  And feel free to think about how many times in the past we’ve been able to say that about a rumor from said newspaper NINE MONTHS before the actual summer transfer window is set to begin.