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What, you thought Beppe Marotta wasn't going to take up the option to buy a player after they spent (part of) the season on loan with the club he oversees?
Juventus have made their first official signing of the summer, making Federico Peluso's loan spell from Atalanta a permanent move to Turin. The 29-year-old defender spent the second half of the season on loan from Bergamo, joining the Italian champs during the the January transfer window. The press release from the Juventus press office is as follows:
Juventus Football Club S.p.A announces the exercising of the definitive acquisition right for the player Federico Peluso from Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio S.p.A. for a fee of €4.8 million that will be paid over two financial years.
The acquisition will generate economic and financial effects starting from 1 July 2013.
The employment contract signed by the player will last until 30 June 2017.
It's a move that was bound to happen. Aside from his shocker of a debut against Sampdoria in early January, Peluso was solid cover for Giorgio Chiellini and Kwadwo Asamoah down the left flank of the defense. And it's not like he's being signed with the assumption of a ton of playing time, so he's sticking around knowing that he's going to be a squad player for the long run with Juventus.
A question or two to leave everybody with: With the signing of Peluso, what does this mean for Juve possibly acquiring another left wingback? What about the reported chase of Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna that has been filling the newspapers for the past two or three weeks?
Maybe keeping Peluso impacts all of this, maybe it has nothing to do with it at all. I guess with actual transfer news, there's always a way to bring it back to the rumors. Fun, fun, fun.