So much for things being calm when it came to goalkeepers once Juventus signed Guglielmo Vicario on a season-long loan deal. Not even close.
It looks like Juventus are set to be in the market for a second goalkeeper in the month of August, with both of their top two options at the position from the last two years now heading toward the exit doors at Continassa. Last season’s starter, Michele Di Gregorio, has very much read the writing on the wall and has agreed to a season-long loan deal of his own,
heading to the Premier League to sign with Bournemouth. Di Gregorio’s backup of the past two seasons, Mattia Perin, is also looking like he will be on his way out in the final week of the summer transfer window, with a move to Serie B side Parma in the cards.
Di Gregorio will have an option to buy worked into his deal. It will be worth around €14 million, according to multiple reports.
Perin, meanwhile, would move to Palermo on a permanent basis, with the two clubs still working out the details on how much the transfer fee would ultimately cost.
So, as of now, that leaves just Vicario and third-choice goalkeeper (and unofficial dad on the squad) Carlo Pinsoglio as the only ones we know will be called up for Sunday’s season opener at Frosinone.
Now, it’s one thing to see Di Gregorio leave because of the “adventurous” season he had that was filled with mistakes and goals allowed at the near post, but it may be another to see Perin head to Serie B. Sure, the contract that Palermo are reportedly offering him seems like a very good one and he will get the chance to play on a regular basis as well, but he has always been somebody who appeared to value the chance to play 10-15 games per season at Juventus rather than be a starter at a smaller club.
Who knows, though. Maybe things change, and maybe this is a sign that the front office wanted to move on completely — outside of Pinso, of course — from the goalkeeping mistakes that filled up last season’s sixth-place finish.
There have been a handful of names already thrown out as potential backup options to Vicario, with former Juve youth product and current Como goalkeeper Emil Audero and former Udinese goalkeeper Juan Musso being just a couple of options. Audero, who has bounced around Serie A ever since he left Juve and then had a five-year spell with Sampdoria, would count two-fold considering he would be counted as a homegrown player on the Serie A and UEFA squad lists.
