Just logged in to say that having watched him the whole year he spent at Benfica makes me laugh quite a bit at the whole misconception of Witsel's value around here. He's no Pogba (duh), but he's far from the reputation he gets from Juve fans.
I see him similar to Khedira and Marchisio in the sense that he is great tactically (at reading the flow of the game and understanding where he needs to be on the pitch) and he keeps the ball rolling rarely giving it away. Has some moments of magic in him, but, like Marchisio, usually doesn't show that part of his game too much.
His competitive attitude has to be questioned (I still don't understand his move to Russia), but technically he's good. People probably judge him based on common misbelief or international football (even though I actually think he did good both in 2014 and 2016), but, I mean, if Juve is linked to him and were to get him, I think Paratici's opinion deserves some credit here?
He wouldn't be replacing Pogba anyway, he'd just be that extra midfielder needed because of Khedira (and now Marchisio)'s injuries. Pogba's replacement is already with the team.
By the way, I live in Portugal and the seemingly flavour of the week Herrera (who is great at international footie) can actually be such a big let down for Porto that their fans would gladly sell him off. Really inconsistent and really not a good passer or good user of the ball in general. I like him, kind of, I like his spacial awareness without the ball and I guess he could even be useful at Juve in the right context, but just thought it's kinda funny seeing the disparity of opinions between Witsel and Herrera since the first was much more of an 'hit' in Portugal rather than the second. Matic was a bench player when Witsel was at Benfica, too, although I have to admit he grew a lot since these years. Even if I never liked his (kinda careless) style.
If I could choose though, I'd say scrap them all and go for João Mário. He didn't have a great EURO, but he really is total class. He's not a winger, as the italian media would make you believe.
Bottom line, there are a few better targets than Witsel on the market, but Juve can also easily do much worse. Like Sissoko or Matuidi, for starters. Or by simply sticking with the current midfield backups, since numerically that area is set until at least 2 of Pereyra, Hernanes, Lemina and Sturaro get offloaded. And no, Lemina is not better than Witsel. Not by a country mile.
Now back to my ocasional lurker status!
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