Juventus Chief Fabio Paratici Discusses Gonzalo Higuaín, New Season, Contract Renewals And Paul Pogba

Juventus’ chief football officer, Fabio Paratici, has confirmed the club are set to renew the contracts of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Paulo Dybala.

Paratici also claimed the Old Lady need to be ‘creative and elastic’ in the transfer window should they look to sign Paul Pogba and ‘hopes’ Gonzalo Higuaín remains at the Allianz Stadium.

The 47-year-old gave his thoughts to Sky Sport Italia when asked about the Argentinian forward and also touched on the potential swap deal include Barcelona’s Arthur and Miralem Pjanić.

“When he left [Higuaín], he was very worried in general due to personal reasons,” said Paratici. “He’s a very sensitive man. We are fond of him, he’s having an extraordinary season, so we hope that he can continue with us for the year that remains on his contract.

“As for the Pjanić-Arthur story, big clubs always talk to each other, not just about exchanges, but also how to go forward in general. We are in the chatting period at the moment.”

“Buffon and Chiellini contract talks are on the final straight, while we’re talking to Dybala too. There was this whole situation that interrupted the negotiations.”

Paratici, who sanctioned a deal to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin in the summer of 2018, is keen for the club to continue bringing in the best players as Juve look to claim their third Champions League title. 

The chief declares the Serie A champions must be ‘creative and elastic’ due to the current situation, as they line up a potential swoop for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. When the Italian top-flight returns, it is likely that transfer valuations will drop.

“I wasn’t proposing, it was just a consideration that the transfer market would be more like the NBA.

“Clubs will certainly have some more difficulties to deal with, so with less income, we’ll need to be more creative and elastic, finding a different formula for transfer deals. I expect many exchanges of players, although obviously, we can’t use the NBA draft because that is a closed system.

“We should take more from the NBA and American sports in general. After all, the Premier League has this big advantage over the other leagues because they control the brand and represent the whole league rather than individual clubs.

“What we will see is more extended loans, so a two-year loan, even three. Some say we could start the 2020-21 season with the same players as 2019-20, which is also a possibility.”

“There will certainly be less cash circulating and that’s obvious to everyone. We are going through a difficult moment globally, not just in football, and the consequences will be felt everywhere. Therefore, I think we’ll see longer loans because rather than purchase homes, people are more likely in a time of uncertainty to rent.

“I believe that if we exchange players between the top 12-15 clubs in the world, the value of the transfers won’t drop. When purchasing a new player, that’s a different matter and we can see a fall in the fees.”

Paratici, who helped to bring Ronaldo to the Old Lady in a $109million deal, claims the Portuguese superstar is a ‘special’ player and is an admirer of Pogba, who departed Juve for a return to Old Trafford in 2016.

“Cristiano is a different player to all the others. He brings incredible and exponential growth in revenue, representing a brand that is almost as big as a club.”

“Pogba is a great player, but logically the salary demands someone of his level would’ve had before is now more difficult to get hold of, or at least he’ll have fewer clubs prepared to pay that money.”

Paratici may well be right in his assessment of the transfer market , only time will tell. Tying down his best players could will be a very shrewd move given the uncertainty presently.