Less than a two weeks Juventus were reportedly trying to close a deal for former Next Gen product and current Sassuolo center back Tarik Muharemović. Then the Premier League came calling again.
And who could blame Sassuolo for wanting in on that?
On Tuesday, reports confirmed what we had pretty much seen coming all weekend — Muharemović is the latest Serie A youngster to be heading to England and the potential riches that come with it. This time, Muharemović will be heading to Premier League side Leeds
United in a deal worth €40 million. Not only is it newsworthy because Muharemović occupied so much of the Juventus transfer rumor cycle earlier this month, but also because of the massive influx of money thanks to the 50% sell-on clause that they have worked into the deal.
A couple of weeks ago it looked like it would be a massive discount.
Now, it’s a big influx of cash — which ironically now the man who was on the other side of the deal, former Sassuolo CEO and new Juventus CEO Giovanni Carnevali, will now benefit from and try to put to good use.
Don’t forget this fact, too: Juventus also received €5 million from Sassuolo when Muharemović‘s move to Sassuolo was made permanent. That’s a nice little payout for a player who may or may not prove to be worth the fee that Leeds United just agreed to pay for him.
Just a move from the club that finished in 14th place in the Premier League last season splashing €40 million for a defender who has about a season and a half worth of starts in Serie A under his belt. Another reason to see why so much of the money flows from one country and the rest of the European game outside a handful of clubs are swimming upstream to even try and keep up.
As much as he was an interesting prospect for Juventus in his rumored could-be return to Turin, Muharemović is nowhere near a finished product. It’s small sample size and all, but his performances at the World Cup were rather mixed at best, and that could well have played a part in how much Carnevali wanted to push.
There’s also probably nobody who knows just how much Muharemović is worth than Carnevali, the man responsible for bringing him to Sassuolo in the first place.
And you also have to ask yourself this: What is more productive for Juventus — signing Muharemović for half price or getting €20 million in the bank to try and use that to sign somebody like Jhon Lucumí? Seems like the answer is very much the second one, and now Carnevali can have a little more cash to work with.
