Juventus are on the verge of signing Federico Gatti from Frosinone, so Football Italia takes a look at who the 23-year-old is and what his signing means for the Old Lady.
Gatti has been one of the most exciting prospects in Serie B this season and many Serie A clubs had set their sights on him, including Inter and Napoli.
Torino seemed to be in pole position to secure his services, but Juventus hijacked the Granata’s bid to sign the defender who is currently undergoing his medical with the Old Lady ahead of a €10m deal.
Gatti will remain on loan at Frosinone until the end of the season, moving to Turin in the summer.
Juventus have signed many promising defenders over the last few years, but only a few of them were given a chance with the first team.
Cristian Romero joined Juventus in the summer of 2020 from Genoa, but spent only a few days at Continassa before moving to Atalanta.
He was named the best defender in Serie A last term before joining Tottenham Hotspur.
Merih Demiral was given more time in Turin, but a severe knee injury at the end of 2019 partially affected his development at the Allianz Stadium.
The Turk joined Atalanta last summer to replace Romero.
Matthijs de Ligt is a whole different story. The Dutchman moved to Turin in an €85.5m deal from Ajax in 2019 and immediately became a regular starter.
However, his future in Turin is now in doubt, given that his agent Mino Raiola claimed a few months ago that the 22-year-old is ready for a new step beyond Juventus.
Giorgio Chiellini’s future is also up in the air. Despite signing a contract extension until 2023 last summer, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported a few weeks ago that the experienced defender could hang his boots at the end of the season if Italy fail to qualify for the World Cup in March.
So, could Gatti replace Chiellini or De Ligt? It’s hard to say, as things stand, but what we know so far is that Gatti is one of the most exciting prospects in Italy.
The defender was born in Rivoli, just a few kilometres away from Turin, on June 24, 1998.
A product of Pavarolo and Alessandria academy, he also played for Verbania and Pro Patria before joining Frosinone this past summer.
Despite being 190 cm tall, Gatti has good technical skills as he was a centre midfielder at the beginning of his career. This is helping Frosimone build up from the back and the same could happen at Juventus, although Max Allegri prefers a long ball style of football.
He is also a threat in set-piece situations, having already scored three goals in 17 appearances with Frosinone this season.
He became a central defender at Pavarolo, a non-professional team playing in Eccellenza. At that time, Gatti was also working as a bricklayer to make a living.
He joined Verbania in Serie D in 2018 and then Pro Patria (Serie C) two years later. Basically, Gatti has gone through every division in Italy before signing for Juventus.
The Old Lady has secured the services of one of the most exciting prospects in Serie B and will be monitoring his developments in the second part of the season before deciding whether to include him in the first team from 2022-23.
This is an absolute bargain of a signing, bye bye De Ligt! What has happened at Juve in a week is astonishing…
Absolute bargain for Serie- B club, lol! Gotta admit I never seen him play and never heard his name, even in football manager game. Interesting that many clubs (at least rumour) chased him. He is not that young anyway.
Spurs should move to sign De Ligt, he is of top quality and very young too, he would be a fantastic player to partner with Romero at the back.
Verrati signed for PSG from Pescara in seria B.
See what he developed into.
As soon as I read he was working part-time as a bricklayer, I was convinced. Hard work is in his DNA. This is what we need more of.
@TONY
Gib 120 million euros and De Light will come to TTH =)
@Many wise guys, veratti was 19, playing serie b, thats a bit different the when you are already 23