Manuel Locatelli undergoes medical ahead of his Juventus move

It was the sight that Juventini have been waiting to see all summer. Just after the clock past 9 a.m. in Turin, there was Manuel Locatelli, stepping out of a white Jeep with a nice white dress shirt and white sneakers to boot, ready to take his medical exams.

It was the day we’ve been hoping for. And on Wednesday morning, it was a reality.

Locatelli, just a few short details away from finalizing his move to Juventus — one that has become one of the longest transfer negotiations we’ve seen from the club in the last handful of years — arrived at J Medical and will undergo his medical exams. With Locatelli now in Turin and undergoing his medical tests, he is just that much closer to signing his new contract and completing the move to the one team he wanted to join this summer.

It wasn’t Arsenal despite the big €40 million bid to Sassuolo. It’s Juventus — the club he has had his heart set on for what has been the last year or two at minimum. And now he’s here.

THERE HE IS! THERE HE IS! THERE HE IS! THERE HE IS! THERE HE IS!

Finally. Finally, finally, finally. For weeks we’ve been waiting for this day. So many meetings. Oh, so many meetings have come and gone without any kind of resolution. But, in recent weeks there was obviously some sort of progress made — and a little extra money available with Merih Demiral moving to Atalanta on loan — because if there wasn’t then we wouldn’t be sitting here today watching Locatelli strolling up to J Medical for his exams.

The Locatelli deal will reportedly cost Juventus €35 million plus performance-related bonuses. The deal is reportedly structured a lot like what Juve did with Fiorentina to acquire Federico Chiesa last summer, with an initial two-year loan deal and the bulk of the transfer fee being kicked down the road. There has also been reports that Sassuolo will get a percentage of any potential sell-on fee if Locatelli is to leave Juventus in the future.

Hopefully that last part doesn’t happen for a long, long time. For now, though, we will concentrate on the present moment, and that involves Locatelli being so close to signing with Juventus after so, so, so many weeks of negotiations.