Juventus Target Kaio Jorge’s Future In Agent’s Hands

Santos forward and Juventus target Kaio Jorge has insisted any move away from the Brazilian club in the future will be down to his agent, insisting he is ‘very happy’ in his homeland.

The 18-year-old, who has a release clause of $54million and a contract with Santos until 2022, has emerged as a key target for Maurizio Sarri’s side.

Santos president José Carlos Peres previously claimed the Old Lady had opened discussions with the youngster regarding a move to Turin in March. But Jorge himself has revealed everything is in the hands of his agent.

“I leave these things to my agent. I don’t get involved, he manages them,” the 18-year-old was quoted as saying by Corriere dello Sport.

“Right now I’m very happy at Santos and I want to keep doing well, growing and improving my football.

“Every day I learn something new and get stronger.”

Signing a new three-year deal to remain at the club back in January, the highly-rated teen sensation may have only netted on one occasion so far but won the Bronze Ball at the Under-17 World Cup last year, having scored five goals in the tournament which Brazil won for a fourth time. 

Should Juve want to secure his signature, they will have to do so quickly, with other teams keen on luring the prized asset away, according to the Santos president.

“The market hasn’t stopped even a second. I receive calls as normal. Football has stopped but the negotiations are still ongoing,” Peres told CalcioMercato.

“It is not a secret that there is interest, but I don’t want to be caught off guard. If the right offers do not arrive within a deadline that we will establish, we will keep him until the end of the season.

“Juventus asked about him but made no formal offer. I told them his release clause is €75million ($81million), but we are open to negotiation. We were discussing closer to €30million ($32million), but not just with Juve.

“Two other Italian teams are very active as well as a French one. However, since no news has come out in the press, I cannot reveal the names.”

It is likely one of those teams could well be Paris Saint-Germain. Jorge has previously been dubbed the ‘new Cristiano Ronaldo’, but could well follow in the footsteps of Neymar, who left Santos for Barcelona in a deal worth $64.6million in 2013 as a 21-year-old. 

During his time at Barcelona, the Brazilian netted 105 goals in 186 games in all competitions. This brought about his move to the French champions, who made him the most expensive footballer in the world when he was transferred for $263million.

Should Juventus secure the services of Jorge, they will no doubt put him on a personal program of development. Likened to Ronaldo, but with a similar background to that of Neymar, Juve, if they act fast to secure his services, will have an exciting mix of super skill and vision wrapped with Samba flair and trickery in Jorge and could well have a world superstar for years to come.