Arthur will go down in history as the first post Covid purchase of Juventus. In reality the operation was born before the forced stop of football due to the pandemic. The 23 year old Brazilian midfielder, yesterday in Turin for medical visits (details of the tests in the article at the bottom of the page), has been in the plans of the dg Fabio Paratici at least since the winter. The Juventus market man, after the August dinner with the CEO of Barcelona Oscar Grau and the exchange of young people that took place in January (Matheus Pereira-Marques), remained in close contact with his colleague Blaugrana. And so in recent months the two managers, with the collaboration of the intermediary Fabrizio De Vecchi, have developed the first big exchange of the transfer market at the time of Coronavirus: Arthur at Juventus for Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona. A 70 million euro operation (Pjanic plus 10 million) with rich capital gains for all (47 million for the black and white, more than 50 for the Catalans). The birth was long, but both in black and white and in Catalan circles have always had confidence in being able to reach the finish line by the end of tomorrow’s financial statements (30 June). And so it was.
Juve appetizer
The wedding had long been written. Pjanic gave his willingness to move to Catalonia in April, while Arthur dissolved the reservations only in recent days. Not so much because he didn’t like the Juventus option, but rather because he had felt surprisingly put on the market by Barcelona. The Brazilian national team midfielder took more than two months for the fateful yes, but after yesterday’s first taste of Juventus he probably regretted having pulled her like this for long. Arthur took a while to digest the farewell to the Camp Nou, but now he seems to have gone even further. The Turin blitz allowed him to visit the facilities, see the Stadium, meet the managers personally and sign a contract quinquennial with Juventus from 5 million plus bonuses. The former Gremio is Juventus in all respects now. But just like Pjanic, the other protagonist of the exchange (for the Bosnian 4-year contract for 7 and a half million of engagement with Barcelona), he will have to wait until the end of August to start the new adventure. The deal is closed and on 12 August (the same day as De Ligt) will celebrate the Juventus birthday. The change of shirt, however, will be effective only a few weeks later, i.e. starting from the 2020-21 season. The Juventus director, having given the green light to the operation months ago, is experiencing the somewhat anomalous situation with ease.
Yeah, Pjanic metabolized everything during the lockdown and dreams of saying goodbye to Juventus, where he is still doing very well, with the Champions League double. The 30 year old former Romanist is proving skilled and professional in managing present and future. In some ways it is an experience that he already had in 2016, when he played the last few months with Roma well aware of the fact that in the summer he would have become Juventus. For Arthur, however, it’s all new. And in particular his separation from Barcelona was not as serene as that of Pjanic with the black and white world. So much so that the Brazilian, now that he has tested Juventus in person, would not want to wait for the end of August. Had he been able to, he would have stopped in Turin already yesterday and he would have presented himself to Continassa at the orders of Maurizio Sarri. Moreover, Arthur is also the first “Sarriano” blow and marks the beginning of the work of lowering the average age (the Blaugrana is 6 years younger than Pjanic) and of the Monte engagement of the Juventus rose.
Read the full article on today’s edition of Tuttosport
–
