Juventus have considered Unai Simón as an option in their search for a new goalkeeper, but Tuttosport reports that Athletic Bilbao have no intention of selling their number one.
The Turin club continue preparing for the 2026/27 campaign, having drawn 0-0 with Basel and beaten Standard Liège 1-0 in pre-season friendlies before facing OGC Nice. With Randal Kolo Muani’s move from Paris Saint-Germain and Kerim Alajbegović’s arrival from Bayer Leverkusen now finalised, Luciano Spalletti’s attention has turned squarely to reinforcing the goalkeeper position.
According to the same report, pursuit of Emiliano Martínez now appears to have been shelved, with Zion Suzuki emerging as the priority target instead. Simón’s name has nonetheless surfaced given his standout displays for Spain, who lifted the 2026 World Cup with the 29-year-old conceding just once across the entire tournament.
Despite the obvious quality on show, Tuttosport frames any move for Simón as extremely difficult to pull off. Athletic Bilbao value him highly and have shown no willingness to negotiate, a stance reinforced by the goalkeeper’s recent contract extension at San Mamés through 2029.
His market value is reported at around €22 million, though that figure means little if the selling club refuses to engage. It leaves Juventus effectively priced out before any formal approach could be made.
The goalkeeper search has already produced other threads worth following, including the club’s growing interest in Guglielmo Vicario and the earlier, now seemingly abandoned, pursuit of Emiliano Martínez.
With Simón effectively unattainable, Juventus appear set to focus their efforts elsewhere in the coming weeks, continuing a search for a new number one that has also touched on names like Mile Svilar at Roma. Suzuki remains the name to watch as the priority option, with the position still an urgent one for Spalletti to resolve before the season begins in earnest.
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