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There are still a few hurdles left to clear before Juventus are able to sign Luis Suarez as the club’s new No. 9. There’s the fact that he’s still a Barcelona player and that any kind of buyout has not yet been agreed upon. But there’s also the detail of Juventus already using both of its non-EU spots on summer signings already, with Arthur and American midfield Weston McKennie occupying those two available slots.
The way around it?
For Suarez to take a test and get his Italian passport as a result of passing grade.
Like, a legitimate test.
According to Sky Sport Italia on Sunday night, Suarez will be taking an Italian language test “in the next few days” so that he can receive an Italian passport and get the final key to unlock his potential move to Juventus. As Sky points out, once Suarez is able to say that he’s got the Italian passport — something he is eligible for as a result of his wife’s ancestry — then he will be able to try and finalize the termination of his contract with Barcelona. The two sides, as of this writing, are still negotiating the financial terms of his departure, with Suarez requesting severance pay due to the fact that he has another year on his contract, according to Sky.
Juve, Suarez farà esame di italiano nei prossimi giorni per il passaporto comunitariohttps://t.co/NpApKhq5Av
— skysport (@SkySport) September 6, 2020
As we’ve already heard this weekend, Juventus and Suarez have reportedly agreed to personal terms on a two-year contract that could see him earn as much as €10 million net per season.
But, as we know, agreeing to personal is very much the easy part of the equation — especially in this kind of deal where there’s so much to negotiate in terms of an exit from Barcelona even though Suarez has been told by Ronald Koeman he’s no longer in the club’s plans for the 2020-21 season. Be it the severance pay, a minor compensation that Juve sends over to Barcelona a lot like Sevilla did with Ivan Rakitic’s recent deal, there’s still work to be done when it comes to Suarez potentially joining Juventus this summer.
And it just so happens that now, with no EU spots currently available, it involves a possible summer signing taking an Italian language test to prove that he knows at least some semblance of the Italian language.