Zabaleta linked with Juve

News coming out of the Italian press today:

According to Il Corriere dello Sport, Secco has a list of players, almost all foreign, who can help the Bianconeri in that area.

Zabaleta is Juventus’ No 1 target as he is just 24 and holds a dual passport meaning he wouldn’t fall into the non-EU category.

This all hinges on whether Hughes decides to upgrade at right back in January. There have been reports suggesting that he will. I am certainly quite sceptical as to whether we can seriously improve this position in a winter transfer window. It's not like Maicon is going to be willing to jump ship with Serie A and the Champions' League still up for grabs - even more so given that his position in the Brazil team is under some pressure from Dani Alves.

And if we don't get Maicon - the best there is - then there's not much point in paying well over the odds for a right back who will not massively improve the team. I'm not saying that Dani Alves, Sergio Ramos, Phillip Lahm etc aren't better than Zabaleta, but that marginal improvements in the first team are not worth their costs in terms of the transfer fee, the disruption to the team, bedding someone in mid-season and so forth.

Anyway, I love Zabaleta and don't want to see him go, even if his conduct yesterday was rather mindless.