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At some point over the last couple of years, both Pol Lirola and Federico Mattiello have been mentioned as young players who could make an impact at Juventus in the not-so-distant future.
On the final day of the January transfer window, it turns out their immediate future is now having their contracts being held by the same club. It just isn’t Juventus.
Juve announced Wednesday that they have sold both Lirola and Mattiello — who were each on loan deals at Sassuolo and S.P.A.L., respectively, until the end of the 2017-18 season — to Sassuolo on a permanent basis.
The official details of the Lirola deal:
Turin, 31 January 2018 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that an agreement has been reached with U.S. Sassuolo Calcio S.r.l. for the definitive disposal of the registration rights of the player Lirola Kosok Pol Mikel for a consideration of € 7 million to be paid in four football seasons.
The economic effect is positive for about € 6,7 million.
The official details of the Mattiello deal:
Turin, 31 January 2018 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that an agreement has been reached with Atalanta B.C. S.p.A. for the definitive disposal of the registration rights of the player Federico Mattiello for a consideration of € 2,5 million to be paid in three football seasons.
The permanent transfer fee may increase of further € 2,5 million on achieving given conditions in the course of the duration of the contract.
The economic effect is positive for about € 1,7 million.
As you may know, one of the conditions that were rumored to be included in the deals before they became official was Juventus have some kind of buyback clause or option.
There is obviously no mention of any buyback options in the two press releases above.
While Mattiello was trying to get his career back on track at S.P.A.L. following a couple of years of major injury issues — notably one of the ugliest broken leg injuries you’ll ever see on the pitch — Lirola was thought of as a potential replacement for Stephan Lichtsteiner at right back next season. With Lichtsteiner’s contract coming to an end at the completion of the current season, it seemed like a logical move to have Lirola return from loan and challenge Mattia de Sciglio for playing time come the 2018-19 campaign.
So much for that.