OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus, Santos agree to deal for Kaio Jorge

On the same day that Juventus’ small Brazilian contingent took the field at Continassa for the first time this preseason, the Bianconeri secured one of Brazil’s brightest young talents on the transfer market.

Santos has confirmed Monday night that the Brazilian club and Juventus have agreed to a deal for 19-year-old striker Kaio Jorge, capping a roller coaster ride over the past week that have seen Juve suddenly overtake a pair of European clubs to secure his services. While no financial details were included in Santos’ statement that was posted to the club’s website, it has been widely reported that Juventus will pay a total fee of €3 million with another €1 million in potential add-ons. The first €1.5 million of that will be paid this summer, another €1.5 million come June 2022.

Kaio Jorge is expected in Turin later this week to undergo his medical and will reportedly sign a contract through 2026.

Santos’ full statement (with the help of Google Translate) regarding the agreement with Juventus is as follows:

Santos FC and Juventus, from Italy, entered into an agreement for the negotiation of striker Kaio Jorge this Monday (August 2). The Italian team accepted the terms of the Fish and the player will now be released to play in Europe.

“Juventus reached the conditions we presented and which we believe were the best at that time for the Club, given the scenario we found. Good luck to Kaio Jorge, another boy from the village that we’re going to hope to follow his path well,” said Santos FC president Andres Rueda.

Born in Olinda (PE), Kaio Jorge is 19 years old and arrived in Vila Belmiro in 2013 to play in the sub-11. In the professional team, he wore the Santos shirt 84 times and scored 17 goals. Santos FC wish the athlete good luck.

This ends an unexpected turn for the better if you’re Juventus since it looked like either AC Milan or Benfica were going to be the likely destination for the 19-year-old starlet. Those two teams, it has been reported, were the preferred destinations since they were offering more money to Santos for Kaio Jorge.

But, after news broke that Juventus had a pre-contract agreement with Kaio Jorge, things suddenly flipped and the former Italian champions were the only option.

Juventus will reportedly end up paying as much as Milan were offering, but getting a player with a whole lot of potential for all of €3 million total and €4 million at most — and obviously we will have to wait for Juve’s announcement of the deal for any further financial details — is quite the acquisition considering what they could have paid a summer ago.

He is very much a player who will need minutes and Juve’s attack is obviously very crowded at the moment, but the first part in the process has been done — and Kaio Jorge will be in Italy and wearing a Juventus training kit sooner rather than later (or never).