Juventus close to Alex Sandro signing and abandon Draxler pursuit

The Serie A champions claim a move for the Brazilian could be wrapped up on Wednesday, but will no longer try to sign the German attacker

Juventus general director Giuseppe Marotta claims the Turin side could wrap up a deal for Porto left-back Alex Sandro by Wednesday evening, but admits the club will drop their pursuit of Schalke's Julian Draxler.

With current left-back Patrice Evra entering the twilight of his career, Alex Sandro is seen as the perfect replacement, though the Bianconeri's wish to sign a new attacking midfielder – the role earmarked for Draxler – remains far from resolved.

“I think we can close a deal for Alex Sandro on Wednesday,” Marotta told reporters.

“We've pretty much abandoned negotiations for Draxler for a number of reasons, but we're still looking for someone to play behind the strikers.

“We've got 10 days to find a player other than Draxler and wrap things up with Alex Sandro.”

Juve had entered negotiations with Schalke over the Germany international, but were unsuccessful in their bid and Marotta admits they do have other options.

"I don't know if Borussia Dortmund would sell Mkhitaryan," he replied. "Ilkay Gundogan was a target, but I don't think it's feasibile.

"Maybe Cuadrado will be on the market. We're looking for someone with different characteristics, but we have 10 days to fill the gap in midfield, so we'll see."

At the very front of Juve's attack, however, the club director is happy with the signings of Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic, who were signed to fill the void left by Carlos Tevez.

“We really wanted to sign both of them,” Marotta went on. “We had to sign players with real quality to replace a talent like Tevez.

“But I think we've done that with these two players