Report: Juventus, Genoa close to agreement for Luca Pellegrini loan deal

When Luca Pellegrini took the field in Juventus’ lone preseason friendly two weekends ago, he was rocking the No. 17 on the back of his jersey. That caused many a-folk to hope that maybe, just maybe, Pellegrini’s immediate future was going to be at Juventus and not at another club during the 2020-21 season.

Turns out, it’s only going to be a one-time thing.

At least this season.

According to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio, Juventus and Genoa are doing yet another piece of business, this time involving the 21-year-old Pellegrini. Juventus, who just a few days ago sent Marko Pjaca on loan to Genoa, are now sending Pellegrini on loan to Genoa for the 2020-21 season, with only final details remaining before the the deal becomes official, according to Di Marzio.

Pellegrini — who had also been linked with a possible move to Fiorentina in the last few days — was left out of the squad for Sunday’s season-opening win over Sampdoria, fueling speculation that his future was going to be somewhere other than in Turin for the new season.

Pellegrini, who spent last season on loan at Cagliari, was thought of to be a natural backup for Alex Sandro this season. And with Sandro getting injured in training two days before Sunday’s season opener, it was widely expected in the subsequent hours that Pellegrini was going to be the one who benefited the most from the Brazilian’s absence over the course of the next few weeks.

Then that squad list was released.

And then you could pretty much figure out what was going on.

As Leonardo Spinazzola looks to be settling in as a pretty solid fullback/wingback for Roma, we have to wonder where exactly Pellegrini fits into Juventus’ plans — if he does at all now. A second straight loan deal, especially for a club that has little depth at fullback to begin with, isn’t exactly a relative endorsement in how they feel about Pellegrini’s readiness to contribute for a big- club. Then you add into the fact that Juventus essentially chose to go with a debutant in Glanluca Frabotta over somebody like Pellegrini (and Mattia De Sciglio) and you might get an idea of how Juve currently rate the former Roma youth product.

Maybe another year out on loan will do him some good. At least we know he will play more with Genoa than he would have in Turin. I guess we’ll revisit this in about nine or 10 months.