Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea all make interest in Juventus wonderkid known

Juventus teenager Kenan Yildiz is attracting a lot of heavyweight attention, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea all letting their interest in him be known.

The 19-year-old enjoyed a breakout season last time round and has really cemented his place in the Juventus team this campaign, making 22 starts in Serie A and eight more in the Champions League.

It cannot be claimed that Juve are enjoying their greatest season, sitting fifth in Serie A and knocked out of the Champions League by PSV, but the young Turkey international is catching the eye.

Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all keen on the teenager and Juventus are aware of the situation thanks to agent Jorge Mendes.

While The Old Lady do not want to lose one of their star players, the report states that the club may need to make a significant sale this year to balance their books.

Sacking manager Thiago Motta proved a costly business as he was only appointed on a three-year contract last summer.

That means a deal can be done, but Juventus are not in such dire straits that they must let Yildiz go cheaply and are asking for €80m (£67m) for his signature.

Andrea Cambiasso is another player who could be sold to bring in some cash, with Liverpool touted as an interested party in the €60m (£50m)-rated midfielder.

Before his departure, Motta weighed up the impressive talents of Yildiz, but admitted there was one area he needs to work on.

‘Kenan Yildiz has enormous potential, physicality, technique, he’s a hard worker, puts the effort in to help defensively, he can create important situations taking men on, he certainly needs to improve his finishing as we saw again this evening,’ Motta said after a 1-0 win over Cagliari last month.

‘He gets into the box with strong physicality and is sharp, so I like to see him get into the box, that is how you score goals, and it is something we are pushing hard for not just him.’

He added: ‘We often talk about Yildiz and both agree he needs to attack the space more.

‘We show him footage where our strikers are in the penalty area, but the wingers are not. It is something he needs to improve, because he has enormous potential and also the physical strength to repeatedly make those runs back and forth.

‘He can hit the ball hard too with a great shot that is tough for goalkeepers to predict. We need to keep pushing him, because he is of a high level and can certainly improve more.’

Yildiz already has 19 caps for Turkey but was born and brought up in Germany before leaving Bayern Munich for Juventus in 2022.

His Turkish father saw him qualify for the national team and he is trying to add a fourth language to his repetoire.

‘I can speak three-and-a-half languages, I would say,’ Yildiz told FIFA.com. ‘German, English, Italian, and I try my best in Turkish!

‘My father always speaks with me in Turkish, but I answer in German. So that’s why I understand it, but to speak it is difficult. I will keep trying and, in some years, I want to be able to speak it perfectly.’