Higuain doesn’t mean Pogba leaves
By Football Italia staff
It’s reported that Juventus could pay Gonzalo Higuain’s release clause without sacrificing Paul Pogba or Leonardo Bonucci.
The Bianconeri are thought to have agreed terms with the Napoli striker, so now they must negotiate with the Partenopei.
However, with President Aurelio De Laurentiis unwilling to do business, it’s widely believed they’d have to pay Higuain’s €94m release clause.
That has led to speculation that Paul Pogba would be sold to Manchester United, or Leonardo Bonucci to Manchester City, to finance the move.
However, the website Calcio e Finanza [Football and Finance] has crunched the numbers and believes the Turin giants could afford to hold their stars and sign Higuain.
With the arrivals of Miralem Pjanic, Dani Alves and Medhi Benatia, as well as making Mario Lemina’s loan deal permanent, the Old Lady have €37m more on the budget than last year.
Given that Higuain is thought to have agreed a €7.5m per season contract, paying his clause in two instalments would almost double that figure to €75m.
However, Alvaro Morata’s €30m return to Real Madrid has created a €16.7m profit, which rises to €25m when wages and depreciation are taken into account.
When one adds in the fact that Kingsley Coman’s loan at Bayern Munich has been renewed and will almost certainly be made permanent for €21m, Martin Caceres and Rubinho have left and Simone Padoin has transferred to Cagliari, the website claims a total saving of €44m.
Roberto Pereyra is expected to join Napoli for between €15m and €18m - or a discount of the same amount on Higuain - while Simone Zaza’s prospective move to Wolfsburg should bring in between €25m and €30m.
Even on the lower end of the scale, the two operations would therefore bring in an extra €40m, thus balancing out the €75m which would go on Higuain.
