Wednesday brought us the news that Juventus were, at long last, close to finalizing a deal that would bring Colombian center back Jhon Lucumí to Turin. Twenty-four hours later, the deal that was almost there has now apparently crossed the finish line with everything being agreed upon.
Juventus might not have a Colombian named Juan joining, but it’s close enough.
According to just about everybody in Italy, Juventus and Bologna have agreed to a €20 million deal for Lucumí, who entered the summer with
his sights set fully on wearing bianconero come the start of the 2026-27 season. The 28-year-old Colombian defender is about to get that wish, and he is about to put pen to paper on a five-year contract that will reportedly pay him €2.5 million net a season — a huge bump up in pay compared to what he was making during the last couple of seasons at Bologna.
Lucumí will reportedly undergo his medical in Turin on either Sunday or Monday. And, if all goes to plan, he will be available for selection when Juventus open the season at Frosinone that following Sunday on Aug. 23.
Lucumí will arrive at Juventus with plenty of Serie A experience under his belt. After arriving from Genk in 2022, Lucumí has been a regular starter for Bologna under former managers Thiago Motta and then Vincenzo Italiano. He has played at least 2,200 minutes in each of those seasons, with 138 of his 152 appearances in Serie A coming from the starting lineup.
Considering that he is left-footed, he is expected to slot in alongside Gleison Bremer at the heart of the Juventus defense once he settles into Luciano Spalletti’s squad.
Lucumí has been a summer-long transfer target of Juventus. And moving to Turin has been his first choice in terms of a new club from the very beginning, with Nicolo Schira saying that Lucumí rejected approaches from five other clubs — including Como as well as Premier League sides Nottingham Forest and Sunderland — as he continued to wait for a deal to Juventus to materialize.
That has happened, and now he gets to make his way to Turin as a result.
There were also rumors that Bologna might have a sell-on percentage worked into the deal to make up for the fact that they didn’t get all of their desired €25 million asking price once Lucumí‘s buy-out clause expired in mid-July, but that has been subsequently thwarted by TuttoJuve’s Mirko Di Natale.
