Report: Wojciech Szczesny to Juventus is a done deal

When reports first surfaced that Juventus were targeting Wojciech Szczesny and that the Polish goalkeeper could very well end up being the summer’s first official acquisition, I was one to think to myself, “Ha ha, okay, very funny, guys.” It was the night before the Champions League final. I was in no mood to hear about it. I had more important things to worry about — and that was before Juve laid an egg in the second half against Real Madrid.

And yet, as we sit here three days after the initial reports came about, they aren’t going away.

They’re getting even stronger.

Sky Sport Italia transfer master Gianluca Di Marzio is reporting that Juventus have discussed things with Arsenal and the two clubs have agreed to a fee Szczesny, who spent the last two seasons on loan at Roma. This comes after reports surfaced over the weekend that Szczesny and Juventus had agree to personal terms on a four-year contract. Put two and two together and you have, at least when it comes to what the media is reporting, a deal that looks like it will be happening.

More from Di Marzio:

About the goalkeeper, the deal for Szczesny is wrapped up. Arsenal and Juventus have agreed on a 14 million euros deal with 2 more million bonus. The player will get a four year contract with four million euros per season, with a last year augmentation about 4.5 million euros.

Now we wait and see if all of this comes to fruition.

There are obviously two big dominoes that comes with this:

1. Juventus’ backup keeper for the last two seasons, Neto, will probably be leaving if Szczesny does indeed sign with the six-time defending Serie A champions in relatively short order.
2. Juventus may as well deem Szczesny the replacement for Gigi Buffon when he retires.

Basically, you don’t sign a goalkeeper for that kind of money if you don’t view him as a starter at least some time down the road. Rarely do teams spent huge amounts of money for their starting goalkeeper — look at how long Buffon’s transfer fee from Parma to Juventus has been the world record — and even less for the No. 2. But potentially €16 million for somebody who will deputize for Buffon next season? Yeah, there’s something going on more than just trying to upgrade your backup goalkeeper.

I guess it might be time to learn how to spell “Szczesny” without using copy/paste, folks.