Juventus prepares bid for Valencia's Silva

Juventus is set to make a concrete bid to Valencia for David Silva, but knows that once it does, Barcelona is sure to become involved and push the price up, according to a report in Italian daily La Stampa.

The Turin club sees the left-sided Spanish international as the perfect replacement for Pavel Nedved when the Czech Republic star retires in the summer.

An offer of between $22 million and $25 million will be made by the club to test Valencia's resolve, and it could be increased to $27 million, La Stampa reports.

The Serie A outfit's interest in Silva is nothing new, and the player himself has even stated that he would find it hard to say no to the club should a move materialize.

But Barça is also keen to rebuild in the summer and Silva, and teammate David Villa, are very much on the Catalan club's agenda with Thierry Henry's next move unknown.

At 23, Silva is seen as the main candidate to replace Nedved at Juve and a huge outlay could be justified given the years of service that he could give the club.

With a contract that runs until 2013 and a salary of $3.4 million per year, Valencia could be prepared to let him leave in order to help ease its financial problems.

La Stampa says the club could be as much as $616 million in debt and needs a substantial part of that paid off before the start of next season.