OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign AC Milan fullback Mattia De Sciglio for €12 million

For the last six years, Juventus’ right back position has been manned primarily by a Swiss madman in Stephan Lichtsteiner who loves to scream at just about anybody possible and a Brazilian playmaker in Dani Alves who didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms. That’s it. That’s the list, folks. It’s been easy to pretty much pencil in Juve’s starter at right back because there’s never been much to think over. It’s been easy.

It’s time for us to add another name to the list.

One of the youngsters that Max Allegri helped launch during his tenure as AC Milan’s manager, Mattia De Sciglio, has traded in calling the San Siro his home stadium for the black and white stripes of six-time defending Serie A champions Juventus. The move to Turin has become official, with Juventus announcing that they have signed the 23-year-old De Sciglio from Milan for a fee of €12 million plus performances-related bonuses.

More details, courtesy of Juvenuts’ official website:

Turin, 20 July 2017 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with AC Milan S.p.A. for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Mattia De Sciglio has been finalized for a consideration of € 12 million payable in 3 financial years.

The purchase value may increase of maximum € 0.5 million on achieving given conditions in the course of the duration of the contract.

Juventus and the player have signed a 5-year contract of employment until 30 June 2022.

De Sciglio burst onto the scene with Milan when Max Allegri was still managing at the San Siro — a period of time in which the young fullback enjoyed some of his best football. Many think that the two reuniting in Turin will mean that De Sciglio has the chance to get back to resembling the player he was when he first started playing for Milan’s senior squad, not the struggling player and overall team of the last few seasons.

But with the price, it’s a low-risk move with quite a high reward if De Sciglio resembles that player that we saw a lot of during his first couple of seasons with Milan (or even the one that was one of Antonio Conte’s best players at Euro 2016 last summer).

I think we all know which version of De Sciglio we want to be showing up at right back this season — and a good portion of the time, too.

Welcome, Mattia. And feel free to play like you did the last time Max Allegri was your manager. That would be just fine.