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As much as Juventus has been built for the present with a younger roster this season compared to the one before, the long-term vision has been there, too. The Juventus management has made a concerted effort to see the age of the squad — as well as its core group of players — go down while not losing the kind of quality that has enabled previous editions to win league title after league title.
Consider Rolando Mandragora part of that effort to lock up some of Italy's best young talent.
Juventus announced the 18-year-old midfielder has finalized the deal that everybody has expected him to do over the past week so on Tuesday morning, one day after Mandragora underwent his medical examinations in Turin. Mandragora, who arrives from Genoa and put pen to paper on a five-year contract with Juventus, will stay right where he is for the time being, finishing the season on loan at Serie B side Pescara despite the team who owns his rights has changed hands.
From Juventus' official website:
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with Genoa Cricket and F.C. S.p.A. for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Rolando Mandragora has been reached. The consideration for the acquisition is € 6 million payable in three financial years. The purchase value may increase by a further maximum of € 6 million on achieving given sports performances.
Juventus and the player have signed a 5-year contract of employment.
The player will be registered with Delfino Pescara 1936 up to 30 June 2016 on loan.
OFFICIAL: Rolando Mandragora joins Juventus from Genoa. More on https://t.co/whCoAp8mvQ: https://t.co/RAIWq2fvRv pic.twitter.com/gMjnVDhNmf
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 19, 2016
Nothing in the above press release is surprising — especially when you consider that, in the moments before kickoff against Udinese went down on Sunday, Juventus director general Beppe Marotta confirmed the deal was going to happen relatively soon. We've been expecting this deal to be done for days now, with the only thing actually still up in the air being what the official details of the transfer would be.
Now that we know, we can follow Pescara only the much closer and start to argue back and forth about when it would make sense to have Mandragora make his Juventus debut. The way he's thought of, though, it might not be all that long. Juventus have certainly proven that they have an eye for young, up-and-coming players, so let's just hope that Mandragora is the next one in an already impressive group.