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Juventus will face stiff competition from Liverpool for the signature of Bayern Munich star David Alaba, according to reports.
The Austrian player joined the German giants from Austria Wien in the summer of 2008, initially joining the club's youth set-up before making his way to the first team in the 2009-10 season.
Originally a left-back, Alaba made a successful transition to a centre-back for Bayern Munich last season, helping his team lift the UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga as well as the DFB Pokal titles.
With 31 goals from 394 appearances, the Austrian is one of the pillars of Bayern Munich, which is why his contract situation has everyone at the club scratching their heads.
Alaba has about ten months left in his current deal with the Bavarian giants, a situation that has alerted both Juventus and Liverpool. The Bundesliga champions have failed to convince the Austrian to sign a contract extension so far, with both parties remaining locked in negotiations.
David Alaba is not the only player to have entered the final year of his contract at Bayern Munich. However, the Austrian holds a special pride of place in the Bayern Munich hierarchy, considering his importance to the first team.
In the event that Alaba’s contract expires next summer, he will not be short of suitors, as Serie A champions Juventus and Premier League winners Liverpool are reportedly interested in his services.
David Alaba could walk into both Liverpool and Juventus' starting-XIs
Juventus have specialised in signing free agents in recent years, which makes them the favourites for Alaba’s signature, even though Inter Milan were also believed to be in the race for the Austrian player initially.
However, it now appears that Liverpool have also emerged as a potential suitor for David Alaba after recently signing Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich under similar circumstances at the start of the season.
The Reds could even count on the Spaniard to convince his former teammate to make a move to Anfield.
Bayern Munich, though, will be desperate to avoid such a situation. They are currently working overtime to ensure that negotiations with David Alaba reach a conclusive end.
However, it appears that the player’s wage demands are turning to be a constraint at the moment. The Bavarian giants would loath losing a player of Alaba's calibre to either Juventus or Liverpool, knowing very well that the player has the ability to walk into the starting-XI in both teams.
Both Juventus and Liverpool have been successful on the pitch in recent times to entice the player. So if Bayern Munich fail to convince the player to stay in Munich, the final deciding factor could be the personal terms that each club may offer to David Alaba.
One cannot help but feel that in such a situation, Juventus, who have a lot of experience in signing free agents, might just give Liverpool the slip and win the race to David Alaba’s signature.
