Vicario Takes Over as Juventus Goalkeeper After Overhaul Between the Posts

Juventus's goalkeeping situation has changed almost completely in a matter of days. What started as a search for a backup option turned into a top-to-bottom overhaul, with a new starter, a new backup and two goalkeepers packing their bags.

It all began weeks ago, when the Turin club sealed the signing of Guglielmo Vicario from Tottenham, finally settling the question of who would start between the posts. The move didn't come out of nowhere: coach Luciano Spalletti had explicitly asked for a new goalkeeper before the season began, after Michele Di Gregorio strung together a series of costly errors during the previous campaign.

With Vicario now installed as the number one option, Di Gregorio found himself pushed down the pecking order, and this Tuesday his departure was confirmed: he's heading out on a season-long loan to Bournemouth, in a deal that also gives the English club the option to buy him outright down the line for 12.7 million euros (roughly $14.8 million), plus possible add-ons.

That same Tuesday, Juventus made another move on the board: the arrival of Polish goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, on loan from Wolfsburg, to take on the backup role. The agreement includes a permanent purchase option set at 11.5 million euros (close to $13.4 million) should the club decide to keep him for good.

That move was what finally cleared the path for Mattia Perin's exit, sold this Wednesday to Serie B side Palermo. Perin had been at Juventus since 2018, with a two-season loan spell at Genoa in between, and for all that time he lived in the shadow of others: first Gianluigi Buffon, then Wojciech Szczęsny and, more recently, Di Gregorio himself. Even so, he was no mere bystander: he made 71 appearances in the black and white shirt and picked up two Serie A titles, a Coppa Italia and an Italian Supercup along the way.

A Fresh Start After a Year to Forget

All this reshuffling comes after a season Juventus would rather leave behind as quickly as possible: the club finished sixth in Serie A, well off the positions it aims to occupy. The new campaign, at least, started on the right foot: the team won 1-0 on the road against newly promoted Frosinone in its season opener.

It remains to be seen how Vicario performs between the posts and how much room Spalletti gives Grabara as an immediate backup option. What's clear is that, in Turin, they decided to leave nothing to chance at a position that caused so many headaches last season.