As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat em…join em. With the transfer window closing in a few weeks, a number of deals are being made to offset the arrival of Neymar. Big news has come out of Le Parc des Princes with Blaise Matuidi finally exiting Unai Emery’s Paris Saint-Germain to sign with Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus Football Club. Juventus defeated PSG earlier in a preseason friendly 3-2.
Here he is! @MATUIDIBlaise has arrived at #JMedical! ⚫⚪⚫⚪ pic.twitter.com/Qajngojere
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 16, 2017
Matuidi leaves PSG with a vein of titles and arrives at Juve, who have suffered a shock loss to Lazio in Supercoppa Italia and it has resulted in Allegri on the hot seat almost immediately. Matuidi’s expertise in winning trophies and super cups will prove vital for the Old Lady going forward. More from the Guardian…
Juventus have agreed a fee to sign the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi for £18.2m plus add-ons. The French international is one of PSG’s longest serving players but has been allowed to leave during a summer of upheaval at the Ligue 1 club. The Juventus CEO, Giuseppe Marotta, was in Monte Carlo on Wednesday to meet the PSG director Antero Henrique and conclude a deal for the 30-year-old, who joined PSG from St-Etienne in 2011 and has won four league titles during his time in the French capital.
Matuidi, who has agreed a three-year deal with the Turin club, becomes Massimiliano Allegri’s 10th summer signing, following in the footsteps of Federico Bernardeschi, Juan Cuadrado, Douglas Costa and Wojciech Szczesny, among others. It has been a somewhat turbulent summer at Juventus too with Allegri allowing the central defender Leonardo Bonucci to leave the club and join Milan in a £35.2m deal after the two fell out at the end of last season.
Meanwhile, the sad song of Jese Rodriguez continues, only this time, the former Las Palmas hitman is now on loan to Stoke City of the Premier League. The loan is in effect until June 30, 2018 and it is primarily to give valuable playing time as there is no option to buy. Jese is under contract to PSG until 2021.
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