Juventus have stepped up their pursuit of Brahim Diaz and made fresh contact with his father-agent as they try to test whether Real Madrid might be open to a deal. Luciano Spalletti wants creativity in the final third, and Brahim Diaz has emerged as one of the names being pushed to fill that need.
The renewed move matters now because it is no longer a broad scouting idea. Juventus are actively working the conversation, with direct contact aimed at exploring terms for a summer transfer, while Man City are also in the frame and are understood to be weighing up whether to give their academy graduate another chance. For Juventus, the attraction is obvious: a player who can operate between the lines and change the rhythm of a match. For Real Madrid, the question is whether they are willing to let go of a player still in the picture.
Brahim Diaz is not making it easy. He wants to stay at Real Madrid and wait to see what José Mourinho thinks of him next season, which gives the pursuit a built-in contradiction. Juventus may be pushing harder, but the player’s own preference points the other way, and that keeps the deal from moving cleanly even with multiple clubs interested.
That is where the wider market starts to matter. Man City’s presence keeps pressure on Juventus, because their interest is being framed not just as competition, but as the possibility of a return. Diaz has already been linked with a possible move to Turin, but the latest contact suggests Juventus are trying to turn interest into something concrete before the summer shifts again.
The same day also brought separate transfer movement elsewhere, with Köln negotiating with Man City over a permanent deal for Jahmai Simpson-Pusey. Köln want to keep Simpson-Pusey after his loan spell, and the 19-year-old is open to staying in Cologne, but the talks are complicated by a purchase option worth around £7m plus bonuses and by the fact that a further loan is not straightforward because his City contract runs only until 2027. Elsewhere, Inter, Atalanta and a cluster of Premier League clubs are circling Marco Palestra, with another Inter-Atalanta meeting expected after an initial offer of around £34.5m plus bonuses and a price tag that had stood at £43m before discussion moved toward a possible £39m deal.
For now, the clearest reading is that Juventus are serious enough to keep pressing, but not serious enough to have displaced Diaz’s own preference. Unless Real Madrid soften their stance or the player changes his mind, the next move may still come from the club he already wants to stay with.
