We’ve been down this road before. More than once, actually, in the last 14 or 15 months. Or, heck, even longer than that. The Italian press reporting that Juventus and Alex Sandro are going to engage in contract extension talks is something that has been floated out there plenty over the last year or so. Maybe not as much as there’s been talk of Sandro leaving, but it’s a pretty solid second-place finisher in the race for the gold medal.
And yet, with all the talk, there has been no actually contract extension.
So maybe Tuttosport’s report on Wednesday saying that Sandro and Juve’s new Fabio Paratici-led front office are going to re-open contract extension talks are the real deal. I mean, Sandro’s contract, the one he first agreed to when he signed from Porto three years ago, is set to expire at the end of the 2019-2020 season. And as Sandro closes in on his 28th birthday at the end of January, it’s easy to figure out that the Brazilian fullback is right in the middle of his prime playing years. (Yeah, yeah, even though he’s currently out injured.)
According to Tuttosport, this latest iteration of Sandro contract talks has been on the table since the summer months when Beppe Marotta was still in charge of Juve’s roster decisions. But with Marotta’s future uncertain until he announced his departure, the Sandro talks were put on the back burner because, well, seeing your longtime director general at least catch the public off guard by his announcement is a little more of a pressing matter.
But now that Juve’s front office is refigured and has Paratici at the forefront, the Sandro contract extension talks are back on the table. Yes, even as another round of rumors that says the big boys over in Manchester are interested in trying to lure Sandro away from the seven-time defending Italian champions. (We’ve heard both parts of the last two sentences plenty enough over the last couple of years, too.)