Juventus Signs Di Maria on Free Transfer, Pogba to Follow

The two veterans are headed to Turin in hopes of restoring Juventus’s place atop the Serie A pecking order.

Juventus is turning to a pair of free transfers in hopes of regaining its place as Italy’s preeminent club.

Ángel Di María’s signing was confirmed on Friday, while Paul Pogba’s is set to follow, with Juve taking advantage of the players’ contracts running out at PSG and Manchester United, respectively.

For Di María, it marks his first foray into Serie A after a standout career traversing the Portuguese league (Benfica), La Liga (Real Madrid), Premier League (Manchester United) and Ligue 1 (PSG). He is signed on a one-year deal and could have a big role to play on the wing from the start, with Federico Chiesa still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in January.

Pogba, meanwhile, is set to return to Turin from Manchester United, completing that transaction for the second time in his career. He was allowed to leave Old Trafford in 2012 and went on to enjoy plenty of success with Juventus over the next four years before returning to Man United for what was, at the time, a world-record transfer fee ($112 million). He won the World Cup with France in 2018 and was an integral part of Les Bleus’ success in Russia, but it was his inability to sustain that level of play over the course of his tenure at Manchester—coupled with a level of instability at manager at the club—that made him such a polarizing figure as a Red Devil. Nevertheless, he is returning to the Bianconeri with a point to prove. 

Messaggio da @paulpogba 🗣 pic.twitter.com/F5TvY9TKrL

— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) July 8, 2022

“My thought process is to show Manchester (United) that they made a mistake in waiting to give me a contract. And to show other clubs that Manchester had made a mistake in not offering me a contract,” Pogba, who arrived in Turin Friday for his medical ahead of completing his signing, said in his Prime Video documentary The Pogmentary.

The two signings combat a series of player exits at Allianz Stadium, with longtime center back Giorgio Chiellini leaving for LAFC, while Paulo Dybala and Federico Bernardeschi have also left the club with their contracts running down (Bernardeschi is reportedly nearing a move to Toronto FC). 

Juventus failed to win the scudetto for a second straight season after a run of nine in a row, watching Inter Milan and AC Milan take domestic bragging rights. It stumbled to a fourth-place finish last season and will take part in the Champions League group stage once again. It opens its Serie A campaign on Aug. 15 against Sassuolo.