Udinese director says Rolando Mandragora is returning to Juventus

As the rumor mill in Italy begins to pick up steam and more and more players are linked with Juventus with every passing day and week, the players that Fabio Paratici might be targeting in the next summer transfer window is taking shape. There is, however, one name in the ever-growing list of potential midfield signings that really hasn’t been talked of all that much — mainly because he’s a player who Juventus have sold to a smaller club in the not-so-distant past.

That would be a certain Rolando Mandragora, who Juventus sold to Udinese in the summer of 2018 as the club built up some capital before and after the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The thing is, though, Juve has always had a buyback clause built into the deal, which would see them send €26 million over to Udinese. And that looks set to be exercised in somewhat soon. Why? Because Udinese director Andrea Carnevale told us so during an interview with Radio Centro Suono Sport on Thursday. Says Carnevale:

“Mandragora is an extraordinary lad, very intelligent and has a strong character. He will return to Juve at the end of the season, I know that several clubs are asking after him, not just Roma. He will become a great player.”

(Source: Football Italia)

Yes, that is basically a confirmation of Juve’s first summer (or whenever the hell it happens) transfer of 2020. It ain’t official, but it seems like Mandragora coming back to the club that first bought him from Genoa for a price of all of €6 million in 2016.

How long Mandragora actually remains a Juventus player is where this thing will get interesting.

As Carnevale pointed out in the quote above, there are other clubs who are interested in signing Mandragora. Roma seem to be the front runner for his services if Juve are in fact just bringing the 22-year-old midfielder back to Turin only to spin him off to another club for a nice little profit. (Which, honestly, is what seems like they will be doing here.) And seeing as Roma is the kind of club that likes to invest in young players and build up their value even more than where it currently is, seeing Mandragora go to the Italian capital prior to next season does make a lot of sense.

What other clubs are interested in Mandragora is obviously what remains to be seen seeing as Roma was the only one mentioned during Carnevale’s interview.

But I guess what we do now is that Rolando Mandragora is going to be a Juventus player again. It may only be for a handful of weeks, but that option to buy certainly seems like it will be taken up and some money will be heading Udinese’s way.