OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Martin Caceres signs with Juventus — again

It’s been an interesting ride for Martin Caceres ever since he last wore a Juventus jersey. He left the club when he was dealing with a serious injury and, even though he was still in the prime of his career, wasn’t exactly flooded with big clubs calling his name. He’s had a trip to England mixed in between each of his last two stints playing in Serie A. And it’s not like Caceres’ time since he came back to Italian football has been involving a bunch of playing time.

But no one could argue that, despite the long road he has traveled the last handful of years, that his best football has come while wearing a Juventus jersey.

And now, in a turn of fortune that you probably couldn’t even have told me a week ago that it would happen, Caceres is back in Juve colors for a — count it! — third time.

Juventus have officially announced that Caceres is once again a member of the club where some of his best times have come. Juventus has paid a fee of €600,000 to bring Caceres back into the fold for a third time, with the 31-year-old Uruguayan signing a contract through the remainder of the 2018-19 season.

More details, courtesy of Juventus’ official website:

Turin, 29 January 2019 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with S.S. Lazio S.p.A. for the temporary acquisition, until 30 June 2019, of the registration rights of the player Jose Martin Caceres Silva has been finalized for a consideration of € 0.6 million, to be paid in the current financial year.

Of course, Caceres’ arrival comes at the same time where Medhi Benatia requested to leave the club and signed with Al-Duhail in Qatar, a move that was officially announced by Juventus on Monday. Caceres, while not the natural center back that Benatia is, has come back for his third stint with Juventus as the direct replacement for the departing Moroccan who had 18 months left on his contract in Turin.

Juventus manager Max Allegri said the following regarding Caceres’ arrival during his pre-match press conference on Saturday afternoon:

“Along with the club, we evaluated other profiles that we could bring to Juventus and were fortunate that Caceres accepted. I’m very happy.

“This is his third stint here, so Martin knows the club, is reliable and completes an already strong defensive unit. In about three or four weeks, we’ll have Andrea Barzagli back too, so that’ll be it.

“Caceres is a player who I know and in my view he can give a great deal to Juventus. It wouldn’t have been wise to bring players in with four months left of the season, waiting for them to learn the language, check their fitness levels, etc. It would’ve taken too long. Martin is ready to go.”

Judging by the smile that Caceres had on his face when he rolled up to J Medical for his exams earlier in the day, he’s pretty damn happy to be back in Turin, too.