TUTTOmercatoWEB are reporting that an Arsenal scout was at the recent Italy U21 match against Slovenia. The scout was supposedly watching 21-year-old Juventus centre-back Daniele Rugani. The paper also reports that a scout from Manchester City was also present – and watching the same player.
Rugani is yet to make a senior appearance for Juventus, but made 78 for former club Empoli, scoring five goals in that period. He has represented his country at youth level since U17 and has made 45 appearances in total for his country’s different youth side’s, scoring a total of five goals.
It is believed that a bid of £15.4m from the Gunners for the defender was rejected by Juventus in the summer. With Arsenal’s knack for top class youth development, a move such as this would be unsurprising for Arsene Wenger, who has taken chances on promising youngsters and succeeded, in the cases of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin in recent times.
