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We all sat and wondered what, exactly, was the reason why Domenico Berardi wasn't brought to Juventus this summer after his co-ownership status with Sassuolo was resolved. Was it Juventus being stupid? Was Sassuolo trying to suck Juventus dry of every penny they could get? Did Berardi simply choose to stay with the club that he helped lead to promotion and then stay in Serie A the season later?
All valid questions that up until this point we had no real answer to other than a short paragraph on the Juventus website stating that Berardi, along with fellow striker Simone Zaza and midfielder Luca Marrone, will be in Sassuolo uniforms next season.
Well, we may very well have our answer. Or one of them, at least.
Domenico Berardi and Simone Zaza will spend another season at Sassuolo to keep improving. This morning, Sassuolo and Juventus, which co own the players, have met to settle the figures and the details of the operation that was closed few days again. The redemptions in favor of Juventus has been decided: it should be around €15M for the second half of Berardi and the same fee for the rights of Simone Zaza (it would increase to €20M the following season). Important figures that confirm the value of these two youngsters that Juventus don't want to lose.
(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)
The €15 million valuation for the full rights to Zaza was something that we already knew when Juventus and Sassuolo made the Zaza-Berardi-Luca Marrone announcement last week. But what truly is the vital piece of information here, according to Di Marzio's report, is the exact valuation of Berardi's second half.
While we don't know the answer to some of the above questions, it seems as though we got a hint for one of them. Sassuolo wanted a lot of money for the second half of Berardi's contract. And in a summer when Juventus are again trying to be on the relatively conservative side when it comes to their transfer budget, it's not that surprising that Beppe Marotta didn't budge on what he felt was Juve's valuation of the 19-year-old striker who scored 16 goals in his first Serie A season this past year.
That is, if he had any true intentions to bring Berardi to Juve this summer if the price was right.
Counterpoint: If Berardi continues to develop like he did last season, then paying €15 million for half his contract won't seem like such a high price to pay at all. So, in that sense, keep on doing what you do, Domenico.
