The season is about to kick off, but, to the annoyance of many, there is still a draft coming from the open transfer window. There will still be some comings and goings over the next two weeks or so—and if reports are to be believed there will be a lot of goings at Continassa.
Juventus are still trimming the fat from their roster, and if the media is to be believed, there could be as many as eight departures from the senior team before the window is over.
The most imminent of these looks to be Arthur
Melo, who amazingly is still on Juve’s books despite not having played a competitive game for the club since 2022. After four years of loans to Liverpool, Fiorentina, Girona, and Gremio, the most recent reports say that both parties are finally ready to bite the bullet and are negotiating to terminate the Brazilian’s contract. A moment of silence for our old buddy Hunter and Tiny Circles.
With Guglielmo Vicaro on now on board (gulp), Juve may be ready to move on from both of their incumbent goalkeepers. Michele Di Gregorio has always been ticketed out this summer, and he has interest from his old club Monza, as well as Ligue 1 and the Premier League. But it seems the step back Mattia Perin took last year hasn’t escaped notice either, with reports that he could be on the move, potentially as a big get for Palermo as they make their latest attempt to return to the top flight.
In defense, the arrival of Jhon Lucumí has pushed Daniele Rugani and Juan Cabal to the fringes of the team. Luciano Spalletti clearly lost faith in Cabal after his horrific performance against Galatasaray in the Champions League last year, and it’s no surprise he’s on the market. Rugani would always make for decent depth, but to trim the wage bill he could again head off, this time possibly for good.
Less certain is the fate of Federico Gatti. The No. 4 has given the team good service over the years but is also going to be adversely affected by Lucumí’s arrival, and whether he remains as depth or gets sold for a profit could be one of the storylines of the month.
Yet another likely departure is Nico Gonzalez. He was relatively successful on loan at Atletico Madrid last year, and Atleti would like to retain him, but want to pay less than the option he had on his loan. A solution might be possible, but it will take some negotiating.
Finally, we come to Teun Koopmeiners. Two summers ago, the Dutchman was Cristiano Giuntoli’s biggest signing. Since then, the club’s gone through two front offices and Koopmeiners has only scored seven goals in all competitions over two seasons. A change is clearly needed. Some Turkish clubs have been opening their pocketbooks recently and Koopmeiners has seen some interest from there. Spalletti would reportedly like the team to sign free agent Franck Kessie for the team’s midfield—something that Kessie has also shown interest in—but reports say the only way that happens is if Koopmeiners is sold.
Phew.
That’s a whole lot of guys that Giovanni Carnevali is going to have to find homes for the next few weeks. It’s highly likely that he won’t manage it for all of them. This is real life, not a Football Manager save, and you need two clubs to make a transfer work. We’ll keep track of all of these potential moves until the window finally closes in September.
