Genoa: Mattia Perin ‘wants Champions League football’

Gianluigi Buffon has officially played his final game with Juventus, meaning that, at the very least, Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici are in the market for a No. 2 goalkeeper for next season’s squad.

We know that Wojciech Szczesny will the starter come the beginning of next season because that’s what Marotta has told us and what Andrea Agnelli has told us over the course of the last couple of weeks.

That might make you think that Juventus will go for a low-cost option as Woj’s backup next season. But, as it turns out, one option that might not be completely cheap is emerging as one of the favorites — and Mattia Perin’s current club, Genoa, isn’t shying away from telling you that Juve are interested in the 25-year-old goalkeeper.

From Genoa director Giorgio Perinetti on Sunday:

“Perin wants Champions League football and we’ll see if we can make him happy. Juve did make a approach through (director Beppe) Marotta to (President Enrico) Preziosi, but not a negotiation as such yet, because they were waiting until Gigi Buffon made his departure official.

“Now that Buffon has said his piece, Juve are free to negotiate and I am waiting for news. There are other clubs interested too, but we have a strong rapport with Juve and in the end what the player wants will count for a lot.

“Napoli are certainly interested, then there is something from abroad, but Juve were the first to step up for him. What the player wants will make some difference and we all need to be in agreement.”

(Source: Football Italia)

“The first to step up for him” tells you a lot — both about Juve’s interest and where they probably stand in the pecking order. (Which Perin will obviously have his say in, too.)

If there was ever a sign that Perin is going somewhere this somewhere other than on vacation or ritiro with Genoa come preseason training, watch took place after the final whistle at the Marassi on Sunday.

This isn’t your normal “We’ll see you in a couple months kind of goodbye that teams give the curva at the end of their last home game. There was something a little extra behind this goodbye from Perin to the fans.

All alone in front of the goal he’s protected for years as his teammates stand back by the center circle. Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason to think that Perin is on his way to a bigger club in a relatively short amount of time.

The one thing remaining is ... where?