Juventus, Zaniolo is back: now it’s a deal with Galatasaray

Marco Guidi-Giovanni Albanese

June 21st
– Milan

A confirmation and more than an idea. The Juventus market experienced an intense day on several fronts. Starting with what was defined just before dinner time, namely Arek Milik’s stay in black and white, ending with the first concrete approaches for Nicolò Zaniolo, in an interweaving with Galatasaray involving Weston McKennie. Not Moise Kean, probed by the Turkish champion club as the heir of Mauro Icardi, destined for the moment to return to PSG after a year on loan on the Bosphorus. Juve, however, has for now answered spades on the Italian attacker: he is not on the transferable list, not even as a possible counterpart for the former Roma, unlike the American midfielder.

Milik, as mentioned, will continue to play for Juventus. But he will no longer do it as a loan player, rather as a player owned by the Juventus club. Yesterday the white smoke with Marseille: agreement found for the definitive transfer of the Polish center forward for 6 million euros plus one bonus. Figures close to those that were envisaged for the redemption (7 million fixed portion), then not exercised by Juve. After a few weeks of back and forth, however, the two companies found the right balance. The Lady has given up on the idea of ​​a new loan, thus satisfying the French, but obtaining a small discount on the amount of the deal. The official announcement is expected in the next few days, if not hours. Meanwhile, Milik celebrated on par with him, opening the scoring for his Poland against Moldova, in the qualifying match for the next European Championship, however lost in a sensational comeback from 2-0 to 2-3. For Arek also the assist to Lewandowski for the double, confirming his qualities not only as a striker, but as an all-round striker. A feature that made him especially appreciated by Max Allegri, his first sponsor in black and white.

If the negotiation for Milik has been closed, the one with Galatasaray is only at the beginning. The two companies have been discussing for days about McKennie, an American midfielder who has returned from loan to Leeds, but who Juve would like to place, possibly outright. And the name of Zaniolo also entered the dialogue. Yesterday the president of the Turkish club, Dursun Özbek, was in Milan and had other contacts with the bianconeri. On the one hand there is a willingness to buy McKennie outright, on the other the willingness to talk about a return of Zaniolo to Italy, as also explained to the player’s agent, Claudio Vigorelli, but only later will Galatasaray be busy. in fact, in the Champions League preliminaries, two rounds, and at least in the first (9 and 15 August) he would like to count on the former Roma, who arrived in Istanbul only a few months ago. Certainly the negotiation for McKennie is a preferential way to set up the future Zaniolo operation, especially if Juve were to sell Federico Chiesa in the summer.

In the meantime, Nicolò is enjoying his first days of vacation in the Balearics, after his recent efforts in the national team. And, intercepted by TvPlay, he spoke of his future: “A return to Italy? I’m fine in Turkey, but let’s see what happens on the market”. Diplomatic and sincere phrase. Because it is true that Zaniolo, after the last problematic weeks in Rome, relaunched himself at Galatasaray, winning the championship and carving out a leading role for himself (5 goals, including two goals in the derby against Fenerbahçe). But the nostalgia of Italy is felt. Especially if the knocking on the door is a big like Juve, a team that in the past has already explored the possibility of bringing him to Turin more than once.

Conditions

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If for McKennie the Lady and Galatasaray are starting to talk about figures (at Leeds the right to buy was 34.5 million, but the Turks don’t go that high), for Zaniolo the speech is still premature. The blue has a release clause of 35 million euros, but the feeling is that in August much less could be needed to bring him back to Serie A. An offer in recent days has also reached Galatasaray from Fiorentina, but it has been judged insufficient by the Turkish club. With Juve the discussion would be completely different, especially if in the meantime the McKennie deal had already gone through to soften relations. On the player side, Zaniolo currently earns 3.5 million per season and the Juventus club would not ask for the moon: buying him in this way would not affect the amount of wages that much, at a time when Juve must forcefully cut. And then Nicolò is still relatively young (born in 1999) and Italian: a perfect witness of the new Juventus course.