Juventus were making strong advances in their attempt to sign Ivan Rakitic from Barcelona this summer. They even made a deadline day push to get the deal done, but in the end it wasn’t to be – the Croatian remains at Camp Nou.

Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo have now come up with a story which says that the only way Rakitic could have made his way to Turin was in exchange for Federico Bernardeschi, with Barcelona keen on the player capable of operating in the middle of the park as well as on the wing.

However, Juventus apparently rate Bernardeschi more than Rakitic, and they demanded at least €20 million in addition to the Croatia international to agree to such a swap deal. That, it seems, was unacceptable to the Catalans and no agreement had been reached by the time the transfer window slammed shut on September 2.

It’s quite clear that the Serie A champions would like another player in their midfield ranks, but they were far from desperate to get one following the arrivals of Adrien Rabiot from Paris Saint-Germain and Aaron Ramsey from Arsenal, both as free agents.