The biggest and most important contract negotiations that Juventus have had to manage over the past few years look to be trending in the right direction now more than ever before.
That is not speculation. That is the reporting done by one of the best around.
According to IlBianconero’s Romeo Agresti on Friday, contract talks with Kenan Yildiz’s camp have made “strong progress” recently, with both sides doing just as the number of reports said they would do — talk come the new year. Those talks are
centered around getting Yildiz an even longer contract than he has now — one that runs through 2029 and was signed at the beginning of the 2024-25 season — and will almost certainly see the 20-year-old budding Turkish star become one of the highest paid players at Juventus if everything goes according to plan and as we all hope.
What this “strong progress” means for a soon-to-be conclusion to these contract talks remains to be seen. But when somebody like Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus’ director of football strategy, comes out and says that everything is fine and there’s nothing to really worry about when it comes to contract talks with Yildiz, it’s these kinds of signs that make you believe the light at the end of the tunnel may be appearing soon.
Of course, we’ve been hearing about another new contract for Yildiz — remember, he signed new deals when he was first promoted to the senior squad in 2023 and then 12 months later in 2024 to get us to where we are now — ever since Juventus taking part in the Club World Cup was part of our line of thinking. (That was just eight months ago, but it feels so, so, so much longer than that with everything that has happened since then.) It was obviously hopeful thinking that Juventus could get a contract extension done as quickly as the previous two happened — and as the weeks go by that is only proved to be more right.
This contract extension, though, is very much different from the previous two simply because of how Yildiz has now clearly established himself as the biggest piece to Juventus’ current and future puzzle. He was given the No. 10 in hopes that he could be that kind of player about 16 months ago. Now, he’s certainly proven to be a player worthy of that number — especially this season as time has gone on and he only seems to be getting better and better and has already surpassed his previous career high for goals in Serie A in about two-thirds of the minutes.
Is becoming a player who makes €6.5 million or so net a lot for somebody who isn’t even 21 years old yet? Yes. But Yildiz is showing that he is deserving of that as this season goes on.
That’s why Chiellini isn’t stressed about the contract talks. That’s why the “strong progress” is being made when it comes to the contract talks.
It’s just going to take more time to get across the finish line — which, when it does happen, will be quite a celebratory kind of day around these parts.
