Two summers ago, Federico Chiesa took over the number 7 shirt at Juventus from his good mate Dusan Vlahovic. It was something of a fresh start for Chiesa, who was still recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture following a serious knee operation he underwent at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The new number marked a new chapter in Chiesa’s career both at Juventus and overall, but he hoped to return to the player he had been before his injury.
Instead, two years later, Chiesa is now moving to his next club.
Juventus announced on Thursday that they have sold 26-year-old Chiesa – who was largely considered no longer part of the project last month – to Premier League club Liverpool for a symbolic transfer fee of just €12 million plus a further €3 million in bonuses. Chiesa essentially had no choice but to leave Turin this summer after Juventus decided to sell him a year before the end of his contract rather than risk letting him leave for free next summer after contract negotiations completely broke down in the spring.
After rumours of a possible move to Barcelona – which would have brought with it a whole host of other problems – began to circulate, he now ends up at Liverpool and in the Premier League. And so ends a career at Juventus that began so promisingly but in some ways ends in retirement, with Chiesa’s departure not a surprise at this point, but an expected move in a summer when so much has changed.
Official | Federico Chiesa bid farewell to Liverpool on their way to the final title.
Thanks everything, Fede!
— Juventus FC (@juventusfc) 29 August 2024
Here are the official details of the deal, courtesy of Juventus’ press office:
Turin, 29 August 2024 – Juventus Football Club SpA announces that an agreement has been reached with Liverpool FC for the definitive disposal of the registration rights of the player Federico Chiesa for a consideration of €12 million, payable over four financial years, plus variable bonuses of up to a maximum of €3 million.
This transaction has a negative economic impact on the 2023/2024 financial year of EUR 3 million due to the residual write-down of the net book value of the player registration rights.
That’s right folks – a player that Juventus signed for a total package of €50 million, one of the most expensive transfers in the club’s history, is now leaving the club with only a small negative impact on the balance sheet. That’s a far cry from what we expected from a potential Chiesa sale earlier this summer, when rumored prices were around €30 million. But then again, when you have absolutely no leverage and have made it clear that he is not part of the squad, there is only so much you can get back.
And it was clear that Juve couldn’t get much back before it was too late.
It ultimately marks the final sentence in the disappointing end of Chiesa’s career at Juventus. Who would have thought three years ago that we would be at this point, when Chiesa had just made his big appearance at Euro 2020 (1), where Italy were crowned European champions. Chiesa is being sold? Maybe for financial reasons and only financial ones, but certainly not for the amount Juventus got from Liverpool.
There will likely be a lot more written about Chiesa and Juventus in the coming weeks and months, but ultimately we probably won’t get the full picture of what happened behind closed doors that led to Juventus parting ways with a player that so many people thought was on the path to stardom just a few years ago.
Perhaps once he settles into life at Liverpool he will be able to find the form he lost before his injury. Knowing at least a small part of what he has been through at Juventus in recent years, a change of scenery can potentially do wonders.
Regardless of who you blame, we can all agree on one thing: Chiesa’s injury sucked and ultimately changed the course of his career. And now we’ll be watching from afar, rather than every weekend for most of the year, to see if he ever gets back to his pre-injury level.
