It is pretty safe to say that this is a signing that Juventus’ new front office figured that they wouldn’t have to make at any point this season, let alone all of a month into the new campaign. The goalkeeping moves had been done in August, with two new players, Guglielmo Vicario and Kamil Grabara, both arriving on loan deals with options to buy within a couple of weeks of each other.
But with Grabara suffering a torn ACL in training earlier this month, something had to happen.
And it’s an old friend
from much better times coming back from Brazil to help a club he won a few trophies at in a time of need.
Juventus announced on Monday they have signed former backup goalkeeper Norberto Neto as their new backup goalkeeper following Grabara’s season-ending injury and successful surgery that he underwent last week. Now 37 years old, it has been nearly a decade since Neto last played for Juventus, with his two-year stint in Turin coming at a time when the Bianconeri were arguably at the highest of their highs during their dominance of the 2010s. He has signed a one-year contract through the current 2026-27 season, and will provide cover for Vicario (and hopefully not get injured along the way).
Here is the official announcement on the Juve website:
Norberto Neto is back in a Juventus shirt. The Brazilian goalkeeper returns to the Bianconeri, signing a deal until 30 June 2027.
Born in 1989, Neto previously represented Juventus between 2015 and 2017, making 22 appearances across two seasons and winning two Serie A titles, two Coppa Italia trophies and one Italian Super Cup.
After his time in Turin, the Brazilian goalkeeper continued his international career, spending five years in Spain with Valencia and Barcelona, followed by three seasons in England with Bournemouth and Arsenal, before returning to Brazil last season with Botafogo.
Welcome back to Juventus, Norberto!
While we expected there to be some sort of competition between Vicario and Grabara — although the former has now started all five of Juve’s games to begin the Serie A season — it’s certainly a different dynamic now with the latter out for the season due to injury. This is Vicario’s job and Neto will likely see action in the Coppa and only play in potential rest circumstances otherwise due to the packed fixture list over the next couple of months.
At least Neto, who was reportedly taking part in training on Monday after signing his new deal, has a couple of weeks to get up to speed and shake off some rust after last appearing in a game since late May.
The hope, of course, is that Neto isn’t needed in many games outside of his expected Coppa Italia participation. With how unlucky Juventus have been with injuries so far this season, who knows if that will actually be the case.
