Report: Juventus close to signing Gianluigi Donnarumma on a free — with a catch

Gianluigi Donnarumma’s contract situation at AC Milan is one of the biggest talking points in Italy right now. The club and the player’s representation, namely super-agent Mino Raiola, The club, as you might expect, does not want to offer as much as the Raiola and Donnarumma are asking for, therefore creating a situation where his status at the club that he’s been the starting goalkeeper at since his mid-teens suddenly is in doubt.

That means a club that, in theory, pay Donnarumma’s hefty wage demands could very well step in and get a contract done and take the 22-year-old Italian away from the San Siro.

That club, according to recent reports in the Italian media, could very well be Juventus. So much to the point that on Monday night, Massimiliano Nerozzi of the Corriere Torino reported that Juventus and Donnarumma are close to agreeing to a deal on a contract and that he would join the Bianconeri this summer. There is, of course, one sticking point in all of this: Juventus’ ability to sell Wojciech Szczesny, who has been the subject of sporadic rumors over the last couple of weeks regarding a potential move back to the Premier League.

No other details were mentioned when it came to what Juventus’ contract offer for Donnarumma could look like, so who really knows what we’re working with here. But based on what has been reported in the Italian press in recent weeks, Raiola has been seeking a contract for Donnarumma worth up to €10 million a season and that recent offers from Milan that total around €8 million have been rejected.

Maybe Szczesny’s recent struggles have played into a potential pursuit of Donnarumma even though the young Italian always seems to be linked to Juventus a couple of times a year simply because of the fact that his idol is a club icon in Turin. Or maybe Juventus see an opportunity to both cash in on Szczesny and bring in a player who would make only slightly more than the current starting goalkeeper makes. (We know this wouldn’t be a FREE FREE transfer because Raiola is involved here.) Or maybe this is just Juventus suddenly seeing an opportunity to sign Donnarumma now that the contract dispute with Milan is continuing to linger closer and closer to the summer transfer window.

Either way, it certainly an interesting development since Juventus signing a new goalkeeper isn’t as important as, say, investing in the midfield for a second straight summer.