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Juventus are the 9th richest club in the world and the richest club in Italy and yet when it comes to transfers, they don’t follow the well-trodden path of ‘spending big’ followed by the other European giants.
The Bianconeri have one of the best transfer strategies in place. Their scouting system is excellent and that enables them to buy players with huge potential on the cheap and sell them for huge fees later on. For example, they signed Arturo Vidal for €10.5 million in 2011 and four years later they sold him for €37 million plus up to €3 million in bonuses.
This doesn’t mean, Juventus don’t spend heavily because when they need to, they have shown that they are not reluctant to take out the cheque book. For instance, they signed Gonzalo Higuain for €90 million in 2016.
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However, Juve balance their books by signing some top players on a free transfer and they have done so on numerous occasions in recent years. So here are the eight most notable free transfers made by Juventus in the last 10 years.
#8. Emre Can
Emre Can is the latest in a long line of stars to join Juventus on a free transfer.
The German International joined from Liverpool after his contract with the Merseyside club expired this summer. Although Can leaves for free, it is not because there was no desire from Liverpool to keep hold of the player.
The 24-year-old played 166 games for Liverpool while scoring 14 goals and the Liverpool fans will forever remember him for his spectacular goal against Watford in 2016/17 which won the Premier League Goal of the Season and the BBC Goal of the Season.
According to reports, Can didn’t leave Liverpool due to wage disputes. There are two theories. The first states that Can wanted a release clause in his new contract which Liverpool refused and according to the second theory, there was a disagreement with Jurgen Klopp on his best position. Apparently, Can wanted to play as the holding midfielder while Klopp believed the player’s best position was as a #8.
Whatever the reason, Liverpool have already replaced him with Naby Keita and Fabinho. As for Juventus, they have signed another top player for free and Can will compete with the likes of Miralem Pjanić, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Blaise Matuidi and Rodrigo Bentancur.
#7. Fernando Llorente
Fernando Llorente is a World Cup and Euro winner with Spain although he only played once across both tournaments. However, his inclusion in those squads itself is a big deal considering the competition in the Spain squad at that time but it wasn’t surprising as he scored 118 goals in 333 games for Athletic Bilbao between 2004 and 2013.
Llorente was mainly used as a backup to Aritz Aduriz in his final season with Bilbao because the club knew he would leave the club upon the expiry of his contract.
Llorente spent the next two seasons with Juve scoring 27 goals while mainly playing as a backup to the likes of Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata. However, his 16 league goals in his first season was the 7th highest in the league.
He left Juventus in the summer of 2015 to join Sevilla on another free transfer. A year later he was with Swansea City in the Premier League and another year later, he joined Spurs for whom he still plays.
#6. Kingsley Coman
Kingsley Coman is just 22 and he has already won six straight league titles with three of Europe’s biggest clubs.
The Frenchman came through the academy of PSG before making his professional debut at the Parisian club in 2013 and thus became the youngest player to play for PSG aged 16 years, eight months and four days.
He only played four games for PSG before joining Juventus on a free transfer in 2014 and he signed a five-year contract. He played 20 games in his first season for Juventus, mostly as a substitute and also scored his first professional goal for the club.
The following season, he joined Bayern Munich on loan for a fee of €7 million and thrived under Pep Guardiola. After two seasons on loan, Bayern made his loan move permanent for €21 million.
That’s a huge profit Juventus made on a player who they signed for free and was not a key member of their squad.
#5. Sami Khedira
Sami Khedira was a winner wherever he went. He won the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in 2007, went to Real Madrid in 2010 and won every trophy he could win in the space of five years before joining Juventus on a free transfer in 2015.
Khedira has been with Juve for three years now and he has won the league title in all three seasons. He has played 109 games for Juventus scoring 19 goals and in comparison, he played 161 games for Real Madrid scoring only 9 goals.
Although the World Cup winning German midfielder is not known for his goalscoring exploits, he scored his first career hat-trick with Juve in a 6-2 win over Udinese in October 2017.
Now 31, Khedira is entering the twilight years of his career and the arrival of his compatriot, Emre Can, will surely impact his playing time. It remains to be seen if Juventus will sell Khedira this summer and make a profit on him while they can.
#4. Fabio Cannavaro
Cannavaro’s inclusion in this list is purely based on reputation because the former Ballon d’Or winner’s second stint with Juventus was not a memorable one.
The Italian returned to Juventus in 2009, three years after leaving them to join Real Madrid following the club’s relegation to the Serie B because of Calciopoli. His departure left a deep wound inside the Juventus fans as they adored him.
Cannavaro started the 2009/10 season well but picked up an injury midway through the season which kept him out of action for a while. However, his relationship with Juve fans reached an all-time low during the semi-final of the Europa League.
Juve won the first leg 3-1 at home and were winning the second leg 1-0 when Cannavaro was sent off early in the first half for two bookable offenses, of which the second one was a reckless challenge. His side went on to lose the game 4-1 and were eliminated. The club also finished 7th in the league which was its worst finish for over a decade.
The club decided against extending his contract because he became unreliable and he played for one more season with Al-Ahli in UAE before hanging up his boots.
#3. Dani Alves
Barcelona allowed Dani Alves to leave on a free transfer in 2016 although there was a year left on his contract. The Catalans probably felt there was not much left in the Brazilian’s tank but boy were they wrong.
Alves only spent one season with Juventus and it turned out to be a terrific one as he won the domestic double and played a pivotal role in their run to the Champions League final. He also scored six times in the 33 games he played for Juventus.
The Brazilian was also named in the FIFPro XI in 2017 for the seventh time in his career and his performance for Juve was a major factor in the most recent inclusion.
In 2017, he moved on another free transfer, this time to PSG and he added four more trophies to his collection, making him the player with most trophies in football history.
#2. Paul Pogba
Signing Pogba on a free transfer was beneficial to Juventus not only because of his performance but also because of the profit they made on him.
The Frenchman left Manchester United to join Juventus in 2012 after receiving very little first-team opportunities and he received the opportunities he craved for immediately after joining the Italian giants. In fact, Gianluigi Buffon couldn’t believe the midfielder came for free.
“Pogba is one of those players who leaves you speechless. When he came we didn’t know him but after only three or four training sessions we were impressed by his enormous qualities. My team-mates and me looked at each other as if to say, ‘Are they blind in Manchester?’.”
Pogba played 178 games for Juventus scoring 34 goals and assisting a further 30. In his final season with Juve, he topped the Serie A assist chart.
During his stint with Juventus, Pogba notably won 9 trophies at the club level, won the Golden Boy award in 2013, was named in the Serie A Team of the Year thrice, was named the best young player at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, finished 5th in the Ballon d’Or voting in 2015 and was included in the FIFPro World XI in 2015.
When he left Juventus to return to Manchester United in 2016, Juventus received a then world record fee of £89.3 million!
#1. Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo joining Juventus on a free transfer in 2011 is easily one of the greatest free transfers of all time!
Buffon’s comment when Pirlo joined the club sums up how ridiculous it was for Milan to let him go for free.
“When Andrea told me that he was joining us, the first thing I thought was: "God exists". A player of his level and ability, not to mention that he was free, I think it was the signing of the century!”
Pirlo only played 25 games in his final season at Milan and the club believed their future was not with the maestro in the side. He then went on to play four more seasons in the Serie A with Juventus, winning the Scudetto every single time and was also incredibly named the Serie A player of the year in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The Italian was also named in the Serie A team of the year in all four seasons he was with Juventus and finished 7th in the Ballon d’Or voting in 2012.
