TURIN – Manuel Locatelli, one of Italy’s standout performers in their Euro 2020 success, has completed a loan move to Juventus from Sassuolo, the Turin side said.
The deal includes a €37.5 million — including add-ons — obligation to buy at the end of the 2022-23 season, subject to certain conditions.
“Manuel is an absolute quality and security in midfield, bringing a level of class that few have. The giant steps he has made in the top-flight, after a period at Atalanta and Milan’s youth teams, only confirms this,” Juventus said in a statement according to Reuters.
The Lecce-born midfielder, 23, scored twice in Italy’s 3-0 group stage win over Switzerland to help secure a last-16 berth for the eventual champions.
He has scored three times for Italy in 15 appearances.
Juventus endured a difficult campaign last season, with the defending champions finishing fourth under rookie coach Andrea Pirlo, leading to Massimiliano Allegri returning to take over as coach for a second spell.
They begin their 2021-22 Serie A season at Udinese on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Juventus has completed the signing of Brazilian striker Kaio Jorge from Santos, the Italian side said.
Kaio Jorge signed a deal until 2026 with the Turin club on Tuesday, two weeks after Santos said Juventus had agreed terms to sign the 19-year-old.
“I am very happy to be here … It’s a big club, one of the biggest in Europe, and it’s always been my dream to play for Juve,” he said according to AFP.
Italian media reported Juventus would pay up to 4 million euros ($4.69 million) for the player.
Kaio Jorge broke into the Santos first team aged 16, becoming their sixth-youngest league debutant when he made his professional bow in September 2018.
The striker scored 17 goals in 80 games and follows the likes of Robinho, Neymar and Rodrygo to leave Santos for a major European side.
Jose Mourinho was never going to walk into a new job quietly, with all eyes on the new AS Roma coach on the eve of the Serie A campaign after a close season full of fireworks.
The final enduring image of Mourinho’s first and trophy-laden spell in Italy, was of distraught Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi being consoled by the Portuguese after hearing of his coach’s decision to leave for Real Madrid.
Having steered Inter to an unprecedented treble in 2010, Mourinho, also in tears, departed after winning everything he could in a short two-year tenure. Now back in Serie A with Roma, he returns a different proposition entirely.
Mourinho has suffered declining levels of success since leaving Italy 11 years ago, having won two league titles in that time, compared to six in the previous eight campaigns.
After several much publicised bust-ups with players during his previous two jobs in England, the new image of Mourinho is not one of player adulation and unrivalled glory, but one of a fiery, confrontational figure who is back in Italy to ruffle some feathers.
He is, however, fully aware, that the Italian media will be hanging on his every word.
“I am smiling because I had a record of 40 days without interviews,” Mourinho joked on Instagram this week.
“(I had an) Amazing time where I only focused on work and forgot my friends from the press. Nothing interesting really to be honest. Love the press, (I have) missed them a lot.”
He has already been causing a stir, even before the season is under way.
Roma were beaten 5-2 by Spanish side Real Betis earlier this month in a friendly. They finished a bad tempered match with just eight men, having seen three of their players sent off.
Not to be outdone, Mourinho himself was sent off by the referee for being over-zealous in his protests, getting right in the face of the official, despite the match being a friendly.
All the histrionics that come with Mourinho will all be in vain if the results do not go Roma’s way, however, such is the expectation that the club need to be challenging at the top of the table.
There is already a huge mural of Mourinho on a Vespa scooter in the Testaccio neighbourhood of Rome, with the Portuguese also having a flavour of ice cream named after him in one of the Italian capital’s gelato parlours.
With champions Inter Milan having lost several star players as they were forced to cut costs this summer, and Juventus entering the new campaign on the back of a below par 2020-21 season, there is renewed hope that Mourinho can get Roma challenging quickly.
“Here I go on another Mission: Impossible,” Mourinho said in an interview with GQ magazine last month. “I say impossible because people tend to look at me and in their eyes there’s only one way to measure success, which is that I have to win.”
