Reports: Friday potentially decisive for Locatelli deal

Our fearless leader’s plaintive pleas may be answered by the end of the week.

After Danny bluntly (and rightly) begged Juventus to just get the deal for Manuel Locatelli done already, it looks like there may be some finality coming to the situation.

According to several reports (h/t Football Italia), Friday may be decisive for the move to finally go through. Sportitalia have reported that a meeting with Sassuolo is set for that day, and Juve will be bringing the heavy hitters. Andrea Agnelli is reportedly attending the meeting personally, along with new CEO Maurizio Arrivabene. It’s further stated that negotiations have been furthered over the phone, and the teams seem to be moving toward a compromise at €35 million, between the original Sassuolo demand of €40 million and Juve’s most recent offers, which are hovering around €30-32 million.

Transfer pundit Nicolo Schira reports the deal will still be a loan with an obligation to buy, allowing Juve to spread the costs out in the hopes that butts in seats at the Allianz this year will allow them to recover at least a little bit economically. It’s not known whether the full balance will be due after one season or two, although if it’s the former it could make for another lean window next summer, considering Federico Chiesa’s fee will also need to be paid to Fiorentina next summer.

While obviously nothing is official yet, it’s worth noting that Sassuolo did make two other transfers official today, a double swoop from Gremio that included midfielder Matheus Henrique. The 23-year-old, fresh off an Olympic gold medal for Brazil in Tokyo, has been in Sassuolo’s crosshairs all summer, and has widely been considered the club’s solution for how to replace Locatelli in their lineup.

With Henrique officially in the Sassuolo fold and a final push looking likely, it’s probably safe to be cautiously optimistic that this will in fact finally get done. I really do hope it does though because seriously, another delay is gonna cause some serious agita amongst the fan base.