Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta has not ruled out making an improved bid for Julian Draxler, despite Schalke having said they will not hold any further discussions over the player.
Juve had been given permission to talk to Draxler before submitting a bid to his club, and the 21-year-old's agent had indicated that the player had agreed to move to Turin.
However, Juve's opening bid for the Germany international -- reported in Bild to have been worth just €15 million up front -- appears to have been considered derisory, and sporting director Horst Heldt told SchalkeTV: "I took a look at it and then decided we would reject it and we have informed Juventus that we are not open to any further talks."
#Heldt: "This afternoon we received and rejected a bid for Julian #Draxler from @juventusfcen." #s04 pic.twitter.com/HVgrzHQyct
- FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) July 27, 2015
Marotta said Juve -- who also appear likely to miss out on Bayern Munich's Mario Gotze -- could make an improved bid but were keeping their options open at this stage.
"You know full well that during the transfer window lots of offers are received and made," Marotta told Sky Italia on Monday. "We presented a bid to Schalke this morning but there's still a gap between the two parties.
"We are interested in Draxler, but he's still a Schalke player and a lot will depend on their will. We're not in any rush -- there's time. We want to put a couple of cherries on top of the cake that has been our transfer market."
Draxler would have cost €45 million prior to the expiry of a release clause in his contract at the end of June, but Marotta said Juve's offer had been weighed up carefully.
"We've presented one offer, which was a result of the considerations we had made, and they have every right not to accept it," he said.
"We're not anxious about it. We have alternatives and we're evaluating different scenarios. We're not in a rush to reach a conclusion because we know there's still a month to go until the end of the transfer window.
"Juventus are following numerous players. There could be alternatives [to Draxler and Gotze]. We're working on things calmly."
The Bianconeri are still expected to sign a new midfielder this summer, with Arturo Vidal's move to Bayern Munich set to be completed.
The Vidal sale is expected to earn the Turin club €37m, but the Italian champions have taken a prudent approach in the market in recent years, with Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Fernando Llorente, Kingsley Coman, Neto and Sami Khedira all having on free transfers while relatively low fees were paid for Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata.