Reports: Juventus to focus on contract extensions with transfer window closed

The summer transfer window is a thing of the past. We’re now a week on from deals being done, and that now even includes arguably the summer’s biggest story of them all, the Saudi Pro League, closing their window to make moves. So with all of that being said, the question is this: What is next for Juventus when it comes to roster construction?

For Cristiano Giuntoli, it appears to be rather easy to figure out.

But if some of it will be easy to achieve is another matter entirely.

According to reports from the likes of Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti and Giovanni Albanese of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Giuntoli and the rest of the Juve front office are shifting their focus from the summer mercato to trying to get contract extensions done for a handful of players. Some of those names are ones you would expect and have been rumored for a few weeks now, but others are ones that are very much crucial players for both this season and beyond when Juventus are aiming to be back in the Champions League and have a little more cash available to let Giuntoli work the same kind of magic he did at Napoli. Some of the names being mentioned as those who Juve want to extend the contract of include:

• Federico Chiesa
• Federico Gatti
• Wojciech Szczesny
• Samuel Iling-Junior
• Dusan Vlahovic
• Adrien Rabiot
• Daniele Rugani
• Moise Kean
• Dean Huijsen

Some situations are closer to a resolution than others, with Agresti reporting this week that Gatti is close to signing a new deal through 2028, something that would be a clear sign as to how much the new front office consider him a piece of the squad going forward despite his still relative limited Serie A experience. Others, meanwhile, could involve adding another year or so onto the current contract for somebody like Szczesny or Rugani in order to spread out and bring down the annual net salary that the player is currently on.

Then there’s a case like Rabiot, who was in the final year of his contract last season only to now be in the same situation after signing a one-year deal to stay with Juve back in June. Or Iling-Junior, who is now a full-on member of the senior team but also down to the final two years of his current deal and certainly has the eye of many clubs back home in his native England. Or the 18-year-old Huijsen, who signed a contract through 2027 all of a few months ago but, according to Agresti, Juve want to show their faith and add another year onto his still-new deal after his promotion to the senior squad this summer.

The big ones, of course, involve Chiesa and Vlahovic because they’re the ones who are Juve’s two biggest assets and have been the interest of some of Europe’s big spenders over the last few months. Out of the two, Chiesa is probably the priority in terms of trying to get a new contract done since his current deal expires in 2025 and would both lock in their No. 7 long-term but also give them a little more leverage if a heavy hitter comes calling next summer.

Multiple reports over the last few weeks have stated that Chiesa turned down big bids from a couple of Premier League teams as well as Saudi Arabia (because of course) in favor of staying at Juventus. But the last thing Juve wants is to risk Chiesa potentially hitting next summer’s transfer window with only a year left on his deal and thinking about leaving. (Of course, what could prevent that from happening would be getting back to the Champions League and Chiesa personally having a good season.)