Reports: Paul Pogba to have his Juventus medical the first week of July

As one of Juventus’ free-agent deals continues to be the definition of a waiting game, the same can’t really be said about the other free agent that the club is close to signing this summer.

We’ve pretty much assumed for over a week now that Paul Pogba’s return to Juventus is a done deal, with only some final details to hammer out and then a medical to take place, with fans likely to be in full voice outside of J Medical as they welcome the French midfielder back to Turin.

And now we have an idea of when all of that will take place.

According to the 1-2 punch of Gianluca Di Marzio and Fabrizio Romano, Juventus and Pogba’s lawyer Rafaela Pimenta will meet on Thursday to complete said final details of his deal that will see him return to the Bianconeri this summer. On top of that, the two Sky Sport Italia reporters added that Pogba will undergo his medical exams at J Medical during the first week of July before the official announcement comes out, mostly likely between July 5 and July 8 — which just so happens to be around the time that Juventus will open preseason training under the watchful eye of Max Allegri.

There’s no word on if Ángel Di Maria will actually have made his decision by the first week of July, but at least I feel pretty safe in thinking that Pogba will be there to no matter what.

So, this is good. At least one free agent deal will be done, which is nice.

In his report, Romano added a little extra spice at the very end of it in case there was any doubt about Pogba’s intentions this summer: “Pogba only wanted Juventus.”

Ah, well that will make your heart go aflutter just a little bit. With all of the talk about a potential late bid from Paris Saint-Germain or that Pogba turned down a bid from Manchester City or that Real Madrid might try and get him knowing that the two have been linked for years, it’s pretty nice to hear that Pogba’s pretty much only had one club on his mind when it comes to who he’s joining this summer after Manchester United said they wouldn’t extend his contract and that club is Juventus.

We pretty much know the main details of the deal by now — a three-year contract with the option for a fourth season with an €8 million net salary, putting him up there as the highest earner at the club. (Although we’ll see what happens when Matthijs de Ligt’s contract extension goes down.) As Di Marzio and Romano said Wednesday, Thursday’s meeting is to define the final details of the deal, which you have to think isn’t all that straightforward considering who represents Pogba and all of the different things that will likely be included in the contract and signing.