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Are Juventus thinking of starting a Portuguese B team?
Chelsea have done it with Vitesse Arnhem, whilst Udinese's Pozzo family has actually gone out and bought two clubs, Granada and Watford, allowing the likes of Marco Cassetti and Matej Vydra to play in England.
Portugal's Primeira Liga has even more potential. Though the league is topheavy, even lower-level sides boast good academies, train their players to a high technical standards, and have an established scouting system in South America, a continent Juventus have been targeting more and more of late.
This would explain why Andre Agnelli and Giuseppe Maria are very much interested in the idea of creating a working relationship with a Liga Zon Sagres club.
This isn't exactly a new idea, either: the FIGC had stopped previous efforts in their tracks by talking about the development of a reserve league, something Demetrio Albertini was particularly fond of.
Juventus had spoken to Estoril in 2014 and Boavista in 2015, before deciding to wait and see what the Federation would do.
Portugal offers many other advantages: player salaries are cheaper, it is far easier to obtain work permits and residence permits, with only five years' residence needed to obtain EU citizenship, three in case a players marries a Portuguese national.
Could Juventus be going down this path? Well, it's not like they're a badly run team or anything, and it's not like they haven't set their sights on some of Italy's most promising players, with Gianluca Lapadula being signed over the winter and a gentlemen's agreement being reached with Sassuolo over Domenico Berardi.
One thing is certain: the Old Lady isn't set in her ways, and Serie A fans would do well to follow her closely.
