With Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon at 36 years old and owner of just about every record he could possibly gun for, Juventus are possibly looking to lineup his replacement.
According to The Express, the soon-to-be Serie A champions have tabbed Newcastle’s Tim Krul as his replacement, and will table a $14.6 million bid this summer.
Krul, currently sidelined by a knee injury, had played every single minute of Newcastle’s season until having missed the last two matches. He has nine clean sheets in his 31 appearances this Premier League season.
Since his injury, Newcastle have conceded four goals in back-to-back defeats to Southampton and Manchester United.
The 26-year-old has 140 appearances for the Toon, but yet another mid-table finish this season coupled with their collapse late in the season could give him plenty of cause to think about a switch to Juventus.
The report notes that the Old Lady will face competition for Krul, mainly from Rafa Bentiez’s Napoli.
Buffon, owner of 437 Juventus appearances and another 139 for the Italian national side, said a couple of years ago that he won’t consider retirement until his international career is no longer an option.
However, Juventus may look to strike at an opportunity to pry Krul away from St. James Park and the thought of a club upgrade could entice the Dutch keeper.
Krul’s World Cup hopes with the Dutch international team are in doubt, having been surprisingly left out of the squad for their most recent friendly against France back in the beginning of March. Krul was on the outside along with Maarten Stekelenburg in favor of young duo Jasper Cillessen and Jeroen Zoet.
