Report: Mattia Perin close to returning to Genoa on loan

Like a lot of Juventus players who could have left the club over the summer, Mattia Perin is still actually on the team’s roster. However, it wasn’t in the same kind of fashion as others who simply declined the potential transfers that they were involved in. No, Perin’s potential move to Benfica this past summer fell apart simply because he failed a physical after undergoing shoulder surgery a few months earlier.

Because of that, Perin has stayed in Turin and, unlike others who are seemingly destined for a move away from Juventus when the January transfer window opens, has actually been called up for a couple of recent matches.

However, Perin going elsewhere in a matter of days or weeks seems like a forgone conclusion. And it just so happens that his next club seems to be his former club.

According to Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti, Juventus and Genoa are hammering out details involving a return to the Luigi Ferraris for the 27-year-old Perin, who made his name with Il Grifone earlier this decade. As Agresti points out, it is being discussed as a likely initial loan with the possibility of an option to buy being worked into the deal — which makes sense seeing as Juventus is about as well-stocked at the goalkeeper position as they have been in years with Wojciech Szczesny and Gigi Buffon the clear-cut Nos. 1 and 2 on the depth chart.

Ah, yes. Genoa and Juventus doing business again. This shouldn’t be anything new to those of you who have followed the two clubs’ transfer activity over the last handful of years.

The only surprising thing is that it involves Perin, who very much going to (reportedly) go back to the Marassi to get his once-promising career back on track and possibly put himself back in contention for a backup spot on Italy’s Euro 2020 roster.

Going back to Genoa makes plenty of sense for Perin, who cost Juventus €15 million two summers ago after he established himself as one of the best young goalkeepers in Serie A. For starters, he’s knows Genoa and Genoa knows him just about as well as any club in the world, and the second he steps back onto their training grounds he’s going to be as comfortable as can be. Rejoining Genoa — a team that is sitting at the bottom of the Serie A table as we begin the holiday break — would be a boost to a club that is in dire need of some good news with the season it has had to date.

And, most importantly for Perin, he would actually get a chance to play now that he’s healthy and ready to roll again. That’s simply not going to happen in Turin with who’s in front of him. So, even though Perin wanted to challenge Szczesny and had Champions League aspirations when he signed with Juve 18 months ago, the writing has been on the wall ever since Buffon walked back through the J Medical doors in July.