Transfer Centre

Juventus 'hoping to lure Antonio Conte with Bastoni, Milinkovic-Savic'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 31 October 2022

Juventus 'hoping to lure Conte with Bastoni, Milinkovic-Savic'

Juventus reportedly hope to convince Antonio Conte to rejoin by signing Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni and Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Juventus reportedly want to sign Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni and Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in a bid to convince Antonio Conte to rejoin the club.

The 53-year-old has been strongly linked with a return to Turin to replace Massimiliano Allegri, who has come under mounting pressure after a difficult start to the season.

Juventus have failed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since 2013-14 after losing 4-3 to Benfica last week, seeing them remain on three points from five games in Group H.

The Old Lady have won each of their last three in Serie A, but that purple patch has only been good enough to lift them up to sixth in the table, with Napoli 10 points clear at the top.

Despite widespread speculation over Allegri's future, Juve vice-president Pavel Nedved has shot down rumours of a reunion with Conte and has insisted that he still has faith in Allegri to turn the Bianconeri's season around.

Alessandro Bastoni in action for Inter Milan on October 12, 2022 © Reuters

However, the Tottenham Hotspur boss is still being tipped to head back to Italy, and Gazzetta dello Sport - via Calciomercato - claims that Juventus have a formula in the transfer market to convince the Italian to come back.

The report claims that the Bianconeri want to strike deals for Inter centre-back Bastoni and Lazio midfielder Milinkovic-Savic, whom they believe could lure Conte back to Turin.

Bastoni was a key figure in the heart of the Inter defence that were crowned Serie A champions under Conte in 2020-21, playing 33 league games alongside Milan Skriniar and Stefan de Vrij.

The 23-year-old remains an integral cog in the Nerazzurri team under Simone Inzaghi, but his deal only runs until the summer of 2024, and he is expected to be a target for several clubs next year.

Manchester United are also said to be interested in the Italy international, who was tipped to reunite with Conte at Tottenham before his agent ruled out a summer move.

Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic celebrates after the match with Roma on September 26, 2021 © Reuters

Meanwhile, Milinkovic-Savic has enjoyed another stellar start to the season with Lazio, registering five goals and seven assists in 17 appearances, but he is also set to become a free agent in under two years' time.

However, Lazio president Claudio Lotito has insisted that he has no intention of parting ways with the Serbia international and will instead offer him a contract extension.

Conte has been quizzed on a possible return to Juventus by reporters but blasted the "disrespectful" speculation, saying: "This is incredible. In this period I think this is disrespectful for the coach that works in Juventus and for me working in Tottenham.

"I have a great relationship with the owner and [Fabio] Paratici [Spurs managing director of football]. I don't see any problems at the moment in the future. We both signed the contract. I don't want to listen to someone speaking about this [speculation]."

Conte has now entered the final 12 months of his contract at Tottenham, who are keen to tie him down for longer and are expected to open talks during the World Cup.