Chelsea has completed a medical for Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria and more details have emerged about the agreement.
The Swiss midfielder only joined Juve in the January transfer window and he was a key member of their squad in the second half of last season.
However, he has faced increasing competition for a place on the Bianconeri team this season from the likes of Fabio Miretti.
Juventus’ signing of Leandro Paredes has pushed him further down the pecking order and he wanted to leave.
The Bianconeri were open to selling him after failing to offload Adrien Rabiot earlier in the transfer window.
Chelsea waited until the last hour before opening talks with Juve over a new deal, but it made progress and he is now expected to spend this season on loan in London.
Fabrizio Romano has revealed more details about the agreement after the midfielder completed his medical.
Denis Zakaria completed his medical as new Chelsea player and Juventus are preparing all the paperworks. 🚨🔵 #CFC #DeadlineDay
Exclusive: structure of the deal ⤵️
▫️ Loan with £30m buy option, NOT mandatory;
▫️ Potential five year contract;
▫️ Chelsea to cover 100% salary. pic.twitter.com/7RN3vKfaGZ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 1, 2022
Juve FC Says
If we offload Zakaria permanently for £30m, it would be one of the best pieces of business ever made.
We signed him for less than £10m when his deal was running out at Borussia Monchengladbach, so it will be a top business transaction.
Good
We don’t want midfielders who just run in a straight line and can’t turn their body. have fun in TuchelBus
Sorry but he is better than Locatelli, what does he do well and he can’t even run? It’s funny guys who supposedly can’t play for us go to top Premier League teams and succeed. So is it them or us?
He’s a good player, but this is a nice piece of business by Arrivabene and Cherubini. I’m sure we will find a better player than him. My applause to the gentlemen.
We got rid of Arthur, why give Zak out on loan! he will defo shine in the prem league like all the players we ship out.
@PHOENIX JUVE
You’ll see how outstanding Locatelli actually is when played as a box-to-box midfielder now that Paredes will be deployed as a regista. The world saw how locatelli smashed defences in Euro 2020 when he was a box-to-box but you didnt ?! Allegri had to play Locatelli as a CDM because even though Zakaria and Rabiot are apparently defensive midfielders they can’t hold the ball and defend so he had to push Locatelli out of his natural position to fill up for the qualities Zakaria and Rabiot didn’t have. It’s the truth, whether u like it or not.
This means Allegri has no excuses again right?
Anyways the unanswered question remains. How come the players that leave Juve perform far better in their new club than they did at Juve.
Well Allegri is a poor coach imho. he can’t see talents in players , I agree with that .
BUT, some players simply fail to reach their potential in a phsyical heacy defense-minded league like Serie A .
Go watch some of Kulusevski assits in EPL , No one , I repeat no one marks him , there is most of the time at most 1 defender in front of him, while at Juve there are always at least 3 defenders defending Juve wingers throughout the whole season . All italian teams defend the hell with 11 players in front of Juve. We all know that . Kulusevski couldn’t even do a simple assist Juve. Don’t compare EPL to Serie A . Serie A is HARSH . Arthur can easily do good in Liverpool imho. it’s just the matter of difference in Football
Brian, your comments about Locatelli are spot on. he will shine as a box-to-box mid. A midfield of Parades, Locatelli and Miretti is as good as any midfield going around in the Serie A. When Pogba comes back, our midfield will be as good as the best mids in Europe. We also have a good back-up in Fagioli and if Rabiot continues to play better, it will also strengthen the midfield. McKennie is not top shelf, but gets into good scoring positions and can score goals.