AGENT ADMITS EVERTON AND NOTTINGHAM FOREST WANTED TO SIGN £43M ACE IN JANUARY

Juventus won the race to sign Carlos Alcaraz in a potential £43 million deal with the Southampton loanee’s agent confirming that the Serie A giants fought off competition from Premier League duo Everton and Nottingham Forest in January.

While Nuno Espirito Santo’s side jumped at the opportunity to bring in Gio Reyna when it became apparent that Borussia Dortmund were open to offers, it appears that the USA international might not have been the club’s number one choice.

Before bringing Reyna to the City Ground in the final 24 hours of the transfer window, Nottingham Forest enquired about the availability of Carlos ‘Charly’ Alcaraz.

Everton also made their interest known. Though given The Toffees’ well-publicised financial concerns, it seems unlikely that Everton would have been capable of matching an offer which eventually took Alcaraz to Turin on a loan-to-buy deal worth over £40 million.

“It was the end of January,” the Argentine’s agent, Sebastian Lopez,“We had already asked the club (for Alcaraz) to be sold to play more, and we had some options with Nottingham Forest, with Lyon and with Marseille.

“And we were also talking to people from Everton.

“On the Sunday, before the transfer window closed, I went to London to explore all these options. And, in the middle, Juventus called me. So I went from Southampton (to Italy) and we established the exit conditions.”

Southampton loanee could earn big-money transfer

Lopez is backing Alcaraz, who joined Southampton from Racing Club in January 2023 and impressed even as The Saints finished bottom of the Premier League, to secure himself a long-term stay at Juve.

The tenacious technician, like Reyna at Forest, is yet to really make his mark in his new home, however. He did grab an assists against reigning Scudetto holders Napoli but Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus have won just one from six Serie A games since the window closed. Juve have now slipped to third, 17 points adrift of champions-elect Inter Milan.

The relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, travel to fellow strugglers Luton Town on Saturday. Everton will be watching proceedings at Kenilworth Road closely, with their Merseyside derby clash with Liverpool postponed due to the latter’s involvement in the FA Cup quarter-finals.