Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain will leave club, confirms Andrea Pirlo; West Ham, Aston Villa reportedly interested

Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain is free to leave the club this summer, the club's new manager Andre Pirlo confirmed.

While calling 2019-20 Serie A MVP Paulo Dybala a key player for his Juventus project, Pirlo said that it is best for all parties that Higuain left for newer pastures.

"Higuain has played an important part here, he's a great player, but we have decided that our paths must be separated," Pirlo said.

"The cycle has come to an end, and as professionals we looked each other in the eye and decided to make this decision," he added.

However, La Reppublica have reported that Higuain has been unwilling to agree to a mutual termination of his Juventus contract, which would mean that if he were to leave, it would only be in another club were to pay a transfer fee.

Aston Villa and West Ham are said to have made enquiries so far for the Argentine striker, whose Serie A goalscoring record for a single season was broken by Lazio's Ciro Immobile in the 2019-20 campaign.

Both Villa and West Ham narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last season, and are looking to strengthen their squads ahead of the new season, which begins on September 12.

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Gonzalo Higuain will leave Juventus

Gonzalo Higuain is set to leave Juventus this summer

Even though Pirlo has made it clear that Higuain does not have a future with the Turin club, La Reppublica stated that it would not be easy to lure him to the Premier League, especially to the lower-ranked sides.

Higuain spent half a season on loan at Chelsea in 2019, under Maurizio Sarri, but "there is nothing that suggests" a return to the Premier League for the Argentine.

However, as we have seen in the past, the financials could be a decisive factor in where the Argentine moves to play his football next season.

The 2020-21 season will be Pirlo's first as head coach of the senior team, after he was appointed in the wake of the Old Lady's UEFA Champions League exit.

Even though Juventus won the Serie A, there were widespread calls for the dismissal of Sarri, as the Italian giants went another season without winning European club football's biggest prize.

Pirlo said that he was excited to start work with the likes of Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo, and that he was already in a good place, thanks to his knowledge of Juventus as a club.