I get why Benatia would want to go, but if he does that only leaves us with Chiellini, Bonucci, Rugani and an aging Barzagli as central defenders during the business end of the season. Why do we do it if there is no cover?
That would be good for Rugani as it will give him more playing time. We have stayed with 4-back all season, so a 5th center back is extra.
JANUARY 23 Gonzalo Higuain moves to Chelsea on a six-month loan. The loan has an option for a further one-year loan deal until June 2020 for €18 million ($20,487,150) to be paid in 2019/20 or a permanent transfer for €36 million ($40,974,300 US), with payment payable over two years. Juve made nothing on the 6 month loan deal.
LOOKS LIKE THIS WAS DONE SOLEY TO PERMIT HIGGY TO MOVE AND MAYBE WIN SOME POINTS FROM CHELSKI DOWN THE ROAD. We should have demanded Caldara back from Milan for facilitating this deal.
I get that, but I would feel a lot better if we had that fifth defender for security. I don't think that any of the fullbacks on the roster can fill in in the case of emergency. Hopefully we stay injury-free and have the best players available in the key Champions League games.
Sky Italia claims that Benatia has accepted an offer from Qatari club Al Duhail. He wants to leave Juve this January, Juve want a replacement for him before he goes. Juve are holding a meeting with Spinazzola's agent, it looks like he will remain with the club instead of going out on loan.
JANUARY 24 Stefano Sturaro moves to Genoa on a six-month loan for a fee of €1.5 million ($1,695,222 US), payable in 2018/19. If certain sporting obligations are met, the loan has an obligation to buy for €8.5 million ($9,606,258), with payment payable over three years. The fee may increase a further €8 million ($9,041,184 US) on achieving given conditions in the course of the duration of the contract.
I know that ruptured achilles in the nfl can legit end a players career, they are very hard to come back from. what about soccer? any past examples of players who came back and recovered their form? It would be a shame if Caldaras career was ruined by this injury.
Reports that Mehdi Benatia has agreed to a deal with Al Duhail for over €4 million a season. They've also reached an agreement with Juve, for €10 million. Parma don't want to release Bruno Alves, Fenerbahçe want €2 million for Skrtel. Lazio wants €700,000 for Caceres, who is the most likely to come in.
Sky, Rome Agresti and others all reporting, Caceres will rejoin Juve shortly, Benatia will be sold. Juve will pay €600,000 for the player. Pjaca has turned down the offer to join Genoa. He'll remain at Fiorentina until June.
The only thin g I will say is he is flexible. he can provide some cover for all 4 defensive positions. Does he have anything left in the tank? That is another matter, but I am sure he is happy as he!! to be back in blanc and white. He never wanted to leave, but that crashed Ferrari rule sent him off. Plus he has been injury prone in the past.
The Benatia and Caceres deals are done, just need the final signatures and announcements. Update: Di Marzio is claiming that Caceres has signed his contract with Juve.
🎙 @OfficialAllegri "@MedhiBenatia made a choice and the club evaluated and accepted his request. It wouldn't make sense to keep a player here who is reluctant. He made great strides at Juve."#LazioJuve #ForzaJuve— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) January 26, 2019 🎙 @OfficialAllegri "Caceres can play at centre-back, and perhaps he expresses himself better there than at full-back. He is a positive guy and this is very important and makes me happy."#LazioJuve #ForzaJuve— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) January 26, 2019 🎙 @OfficialAllegri "It will soon become apparent just how much @DanieleRugani has grown as a player. We've seen it at times already, in the first half of the season he hasn't played much but now he will have the opportunity to play a lot more often."#LazioJuve #ForzaJuve— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) January 26, 2019
Is Caldara as good as we thought he would be? He is not really getting much playing time at AC Milan. Maybe that deal wasn't so bad after all. I don't know, but I have a feeling that Caldara is not as good as we hoped for.
There's was no point in involving AC Milan in the first place when we should have just sold Higuain directly to Chelsea from the beginning, regardless of Caldara. We had to use Caldara to bribe Milan to take Higuain because we needed the latter's wages off of our books, but we were still paying part of his salary anyway. If we'd have just sold to Chelsea in the summer, not only would we have gotten the money from the transfer fee, but we could have been rid of his wages while leaving Meelan to fund their own rebuilding. That's why the stupidity of the deal stung, Caldara or no Caldara.