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It looks as though we're just a step or two away from the first "OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL" of the January transfer window.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sports Italia and La Stampa's Massimiliano Nerozzi, Juventus and Genoa are just an official announcement away from completing their much-talked about deal for 18-year-old midfielder Rolando Mandragora, who will sign a five-year contract with Juve. An official statement regarding the transfer is expected soon. Until then, let's just go ahead and do some reading about the deal while at the same time thinking "SOON! SOON! SOON!" Or something like that.
The agent for the player born in 1997, Vincenzo Pisacane, was in Turin on Wednesday where he met with Juve's management to complete the deal. Juventus will pay Genoa, who owns his rights, €7 million plus €7 million in bonuses. The 18 year midfielder will however finish the season at Pescara where he is on loan from Genoa.
(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)
The first reaction may be something like "Wait, €7 million — and potentially double that — for a player that young?!" And that's fair. But the general feeling is seems to be that if there was a player who is on the serious rise while still being incredibly young and still developing, Mandragora fits the billing. Seeing that Juventus has put a pretty big emphasis on getting a hold on the best young talent in Italy the past couple of seasons, signing Mandragora is just another step in the long-term vision implemented by Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici.
It will be interesting to see how the reported €7 million worth of bonuses actually work out. Might they be constructed by when he actually gets to Juventus — which will be over the summer at the earliest — or maybe when he actually starts appearing in games for the four-time defending Serie A champions. (Hopefully it's another season or two tacked onto that number of titles, by the way.)
No matter what, though, I would like to think a little more interest in Pescara has been generated because of this. And no, it's not because a striker by the name of Andrea Cocco is on the roster. Although that name is cool, though.