Juventus interested in signing Federico Bonazzoli

This is not nice news to have to digest, but it is news, and we have a duty to report it. Just a warning in advance.

As you may or may not have noticed, depending on how closely you follow transfer news, Juventus have spent the vast majority of this January window hoovering up every single young Italian player under the sun, in order to stand them in good stead for the years to come on top of the deeply depressing success they are already having in the present.

Having missed out on signing Marco Verratti back in the summer of 2012, who has since turned out to be something of a phenomenon, the Bianconeri have been determined ever since not to let any more exciting young talent slip through their fingers, and as such they have already snapped up the services of Genoa's Rolando Mandragora and Cesena's Stefano Sensi this month, with Avellino's Marcello Trotta also attracting their attention in recent weeks. You can resent them for it (as indeed I do, having been immensely impressed by all three of them in Serie B this season), but it's unquestionably a good idea.

Unfortunately however, they are not finished yet, and this is where things could get just a little bit painful for Interisti. According to Sky Italia's imperious transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio, Federico Bonazzoli is the next youngster they are planning to take under their wing, who of course was sold by Inter to Sampdoria back in January for a fee of around €4.5m. From the ages of 7-17, Bonazzoli was part of Inter's prolific youth system, and even made a handful of first-team appearances under Roberto Mancini at the beginning of last season, but in January of 2015 it became clear that the club desperately needed to acquire some money from somewhere and so the Italian was sacrificed and sent on his merry way (albeit he remained on loan at Inter until the summer). And now Juventus want him to be part of their black and white future. Eek.

At this junction, there is a dilemma facing Piero Ausilio and Erick Thohir. Should Inter wish to put a stop to their bitterest rivals signing one of the brightest talents ever to emerge from their Primavera system, then they can do so, because the Nerazzurri were wise enough to insert a buy-back clause of €9m into the deal with Sampdoria twelve months ago. However, since joining the Blucerchiati Bonazzoli has not had even the slightest look into the first-team picture, neither under Walter Zenga nor under Vincenzo Montella, and therefore at the moment he remains little more than a good prospect. For that reason, we cannot really afford to spend that much money on him because our currently are priorities are elsewhere, which means it's unlikely to happen.

Should Inter wish to leave the way clear for Juve, they will in any case receive 30% of the transfer fee they pay to Sampdoria for him, but it would still give both fans and club alike a lot of frustration to see someone they nurtured turn into a success story in Turin. And he has the talent to do so. Bonazzoli is the second youngest player ever to represent Inter in Serie A after making his debut at the age of 16, and back in November 2014 he also became the youngest ever player to play for Italy's Under-21 side at just 17 years and 5 months old, which earned him a place in The Guardian's Next Generation 2014 article on the 40 best young talents in world football. He is potentially quite something special.

And unless something strange happens in the next few weeks, he will have to realise that potential at Juve and not with us. Sigh.