OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign Genoa midfielder Tomas Rincon for €8 million

If we’ve learned anything from Beppe Marotta’s transfer dealings over the years, there seems to be two very different speeds in which a deal materializes. There is either the transfer that only seems to take a couple of days to go from rumors of there being interest to a player showing up for his medical. Then there’s the drawn-out transfer saga that goes on for weeks, if not months, before something happens — good or bad.

Considering this one to be filed under Option A.

You might not have thought Genoa midfielder Tomas Rincon would become a Juventus player in the hours following the ripping into of your Christmas presents, but he is now. Juventus and Genoa have finalized a deal that sees the 28-year-old Rincon arrive on an €8 million deal and put pen to paper on a contract until the end of the 2019-20 season. Acquiring Rincon, Juventus’ first of official signing of the winter transfer window even before January arrives, was first reported as being virtually a done deal earlier this week.

The complete details of the deal, courtesy of Juventus’ official website:

Juventus Football Club can today confirm that Tomas Rincon has completed a permanent switch from Genoa for a fee of 8 million euros - a figure which could rise by 1 million euros on reaching certain conditions within the contract.

Rincon, who becomes the first ever Venezuelan to represent the Bianconeri, has signed a deal with Juventus lasting until 30 June 2020.

Rincon had previously been with Genoa since 2014 after playing five seasons in the Bundesliga with Hamburg. Known as a hard-nosed and gritty kind of midfielder, he certainly won’t wow you with the sheer numbers he records. He’s not a big-time threat to score goals, having only found the back of the net three times in his time with Genoa. So if you’re looking for a creative force added to Juve’s midfield, you’ve got another thing coming to you.

What he will add is a definitive amount of toughness — which given his nickname, ‘El General,’ shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise, I guess. That’s not exactly an ever-present characteristic throughout Juve’s current midfield crop. In that case, Rincon will be adding that Juventus probably needs a little more of going forward this season.

Worst comes to worst, maybe we’ll see Rincon challenging Max Allegri on the basketball court. Max does like a challenge, as we all know.

Not a bad jump shot, if I do say so myself. I’ll give him a pretty good chance.