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When Beppe Marotta shelled out around €10 million for then-Lazio right back Stephan Lichtsteiner in the summer of 2011, some folks wondered why the Juventus director general would pay so much for such an unglamorous position. Well, three and a half years later, Lichtsteiner has become one of Juventus' most important players at a position that previous club officials never truly addressed.
Don't worry, though. The lovely Lichtsteiner-Juventus marriage isn't over just yet.
That's because reports out of the Italian press on Thursday say that Lichtsteiner has agreed to a contract extension through 2017, ending what was a long and thorough negotiation period between the player and the club. According to those same reports, Lichtsteiner — whose current contract is set to expire at the end of the 2014-15 season — is expected to get a yearly salary raise from his €2 million figure this year to €2.6 in his new deal.
#Juve-#Lichtsteiner: per il rinnovo fino al 30 giugno 2017 manca solo l'ufficialità. Intesa trovata. #GoalMercato
— Romeo Agresti (@romeoagresti) December 11, 2014
Lichtsteiner rinnoverà con la Juve fino al 2017: prima di Natale l'annuncio
— mirkograziano (@mirkogazzetta) December 10, 2014
You don't an Italian-to-English dictionary to figure out what is being reported here.
First reaction: Good, damn good.
Second reaction: Well, I'll just let the gif tell you how I feel.
As negotiations between the two sides went on and on and on over the last few months, many folks wondered if Juventus and Lichtsteiner were headed toward the end of the road. Other teams were rumored to be swirling just in case the Swiss right back didn't agree to a new deal with Juventus. And it's not like reports of "Juventus and Lichtsteiner not close in negotiations" really helped the matter at all.
But all of that chatter is in the past now with Thursday's reports coming to the surface.
And with it, we can check Lichtsteiner's name off the list of those players rumored to be line for a contract extension. Let the guessing games begin as to who is next. At least we know now that the Swiss Express will be bombing up and down the right sideline for the next couple of season at the very minimum. I'm a full supporter of that.
