Report: Dejan Kulusevski’s Juventus medical set for later this week

Monday brought us the relatively unexpected news that Juventus and Atalanta were closing in on a deal for Swedish teenager Dejan Kulusevski, a player who has made quite a name for himself this season during a loan spell at Parma.

That pretty much brings us to the next step in the process: When is he actually going to show up in Turin for the first time as a Juventus player?

According to Sky Sport Italia on Tuesday, that should be for his medical exams later this week barring any kind of last-minute hiccups. Kulusevski, who will cost Juventus €35 million plus another €10 million in potential add-ons, according to Sky’s Gianluca Di Marzio, will then spend the second half of the season at Parma — and hopefully continue to thrive — before returning to Juventus for preseason training over the summer.

Based on everything coming out of Italy right now is basically saying the same thing: Kulusevski is a Juventus player now. The price has been agreed upon. The only thing that we’re waiting on is a medical to take place and for the 19-year-old Swede to put pen to paper on his contract with the Italian champions that will run through 2024.

Kulusevski is expected to make €2.5 million a season, according to Di Marzio. And it was those personal terms that Di Marzio said were agreed to relatively quickly. (Which, I guess, shouldn’t be much of a surprise seeing how quickly this deal seemed to be done without much media attention whatsoever.)

Di Marzio provided some background of the negotiation process as well on Tuesday:

The acceleration, the overtaking, the closing. Last night Juventus reached an agreement with Atalanta to acquire Dejan Kulusevski, who broke out on loan at Parma this season with four goals and seven assists.

Inter had pursued the Swedish player, they had reached an agreement with Atalanta that would have allowed to acquire him in June had they not received a concrete offer in January. In addition Kulusevki’s agent Stefano Sem had expressed some of his client’s concerns regarding his role in Conte’s 3-5-2 formation during the season.

In the meantime, Juventus joined the race and reached an agreement with the player on the basis of €2.5 million after taxes a season plus bonus with raises in the next five years, an offer that convinced Kulusevski, who is eager to play in Sarri’s 4-3-1-2.

The tactical aspect is an interesting twist, don’t you think? Especially since Kulusevski is a winger and the 4-3-1-2 formation is something that, at least lately, hasn’t exactly provided Juventus with a whole lot of width. (Although, as Maurizio Sarri does like to say, his attackers do have freedom to do what they want in the final third and aren’t totally locked into where they have to play.)

But, from what Di Marzio is saying right off the top, there seemed to be a real desire on Juventus’ part to make sure this deal got done quick. And even if Kulusevski won’t be a Juventus player right away, he is going to be a Juventus player in the not so far off future where he’ll have the chance to add some much-needed youth to the oldest squad Serie A has to offer this season.