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It wasn’t so long ago that Juventus and Genoa were discussing a loan deal that involved Gianluca Frabotta, one of the forgotten players of the final months of Andrea Pirlo’s one season as Juventus’ manager. In the next few days, one could have expected the next step in the process — an agreement to the loan deal and then that would be that as to where the young Italian fullback would be playing next season.
But that agreement never happened.
And there might now be a good reason for it.
Rather than being in continued talks with Genoa regarding Frabotta’s status for the 2021-22 season, Juventus and Atalanta are in advanced talks for a loan deal involving the 22-year-old fullback, according to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio. The negotiations, according to Di Marzio, are “proceeding swiftly” and involve Atalanta having a right of redemption next summer after seeing Frabotta spend the 2021-22 season on loan in Bergamo.
As Di Marzio puts it, Frabotta “is one step away from wearing the Atalanta shirt.”
#Atalanta, procede spedita la trattativa con la #Juventus per #Frabotta https://t.co/UK8lbK7REO
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) July 20, 2021
The major thing in all of this is what happened between Juventus and Genoa for that deal that looked like it was going to get done a few weeks to now being a thing of the past. So much so that Juventus has obviously moved on, and Frabotta is obviously going to get a shot at a much more competitive club than at Genoa side that finished in 11th last season.
But, of course, when Atalanta starts trying to acquire one of your younger players, it’s hard not to wonder if they see something that Juventus might not. For as much as Frabotta played early on in the season, the same can’t be said about his final few months of the season under Pirlo, which saw him appear all of twice after the calendar flipped to March.
So far, there has been no indication what the option to buy for Atalanta might be worth, or even how much the loan fee may be. As of right now, we just know that Frabotta’s future looks like it’s in Bergamo as compared to in Turin or even Genoa.