OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign Andrea Cambiaso from Genoa

The crowd outside J Medical wasn’t nearly as large as it was a week ago. The storm of tweets surrounding the deal was a fraction of what it was during the previous two arrivals. But Juventus has now officially made its third signing of the 2022 summer mercato.

Juventus announced Thursday that young Italian fullback/wingback Andrea Cambiaso has joined the club on an €8.5 million deal after signing a five-year contract until 2027. While technically announced as two separate deals, young Romanian defender Radu Dragusin joined Genoa and was basically a way for Juventus to bring down the transfer fee for Cambiaso.

But if you’re expecting to see Cambiaso compete for minutes with Alex Sandro on the left side of Juventus’ defense next season, you might be getting ahead of yourself. It was widely reported by the likes of Sky Sport Italia, La Gazzetta dello Sport and SportItalia after Cambiaso finished his medical on Wednesday that he will he to Bologna on a season-long loan.

What that means for Juve’s options on the left remain to be seen, but expecting Cambiaso to be there is maybe a little too much to ask at the moment.

Here are the official details of the Cambiaso deal, courtesy of Juve’s website:

Turin, 14 July 2022 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that an agreement with Genoa Cricket and Football Club for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Andrea Cambiaso has been reached for a consideration of € 8.5 million payable in 2 financial years.

In addition, bonuses up to a maximum of € 3.0 million are envisaged upon achievement of increasing sporting objectives.

Juventus and the player have signed a contract of employment until 30 June 2027

And here are the official details of the Dragusin deal, courtesy of Juve’s website:

Turin, 14 July 2022 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that an agreement with Genoa Cricket and Football Club has been reached for the temporary disposal, until 30 June 2023, of the registration rights of the player Radu Matei Dragusin.

The agreement entails the obligation for Genoa Cricket and Football Club to definitely acquire the player’s registrations rights, subject to the achievement of certain given sporting objectives during the season 2022/2023. The agreed consideration for the definitive acquisition is € 5.5 million, payable in 2 years.

Furthermore, a maximum of € 1.8 million of cumulative bonuses are envisaged upon achievement of further sporting performance objectives over the duration of the employment contract with the player.

Cambiaso was one of the few bright spots for a Genoa squad that was relegated to Serie B last season. In nearly 2,000 Serie A minutes, he finished with a team-high four assists for a Genoa side that clearly struggled to do much of anything right.

But Genoa being relegated to Italy’s second dvision was likely one of the reasons as to why Dragusin was reportedly hesitant to join Genoa as part of this deal even though he’s technically moving there on a separate transfer. (For the second straight summer, by the way, after starting last season on loan with Sampdoria before switching over to Salernitana in January.)

The hope is that this isn’t one of those cases where Cambiaso goes on loan to a lower-table squad and doesn’t exactly progress after a positive season in the 2021-22 campaign. Juve’s youngsters going out on loan has proven to be more fruitful and productive as of late, and here’s to hoping that Cambiaso is one of them once he does officially join Bologna.