OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign Valencia youngster Facundo Gonzalez

It has been a quiet summer for Juventus due to a number of factors. The biggest, of course, is the current financial climate at the club, with sales needing to happen to allow for any sort of buys during the final couple of weeks of the summer transfer window. That means, one would think, that any move done would be on the cheap and upside down the road attached.

That is what Juve is hoping to get with Facundo Gonzalez.

Juventus announced its signing of the 20-year-old Gonzalez on Tuesday, with the young Uruguayan arriving from Valencia for a reported fee of around €3 million. (Juventus did not release the figures of the Gonzalez deal via press release online as they have done with previous transfers.) Gonzalez has signed a contract through 2026, with many anticipating that he will spend the 2023-24 season on loan, the most likely destination being in Salerno Salernitana (along with a few other of his new teammates).

For now, though, Juventus has not said what Gonzalez’s next step will be. Instead, Gonzalez joins a team that has signed just two players this summer — Arek Milik outright from Marseille and Timothy Weah in an €12 million deal from Lille.

The 6-foot-4 Gonzalez shot to prominence this summer when he was one of the standout performers during Uruguay’s run at the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina. In leading a defense that allowed three goals total and recorded six shutouts in seven games, Gonzalez showed his talents in starting every game at the tournament for the newly crowned champions.

With Gonzalez — a left-footed center back who is strong in the air — expected to head out on loan this season, he will get valuable experience considering he had yet to appear at the senior level with Valencia after playing with their reserve team in Spain’s second division. Salernitana have reportedly made Gonzalez one of their desired loan targets, with new Juve teammates Fabio Miretti and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia also looking like they will spend the 2023-24 campaign on loan in Salerno.