Fede Bernardeschi has been signed by Juventus. (Source: Twitter)
Italian club Juventus officially signed Fiorentina forward Federico Bernardeschi on a five-year deal for £35m on Sunday. The 23-year-old Tuscan, who scored 11 league goals for La Viola last season, arrived at Allianz Stadium with a reputation as both a consistent creator and scorer of spectacular goals, as demonstrated in a breakthrough past two seasons in Florence.
He attended Juve’s medical centre on Monday morning and has now committed to the Serie A champions until 2022. Juve official website said, “Bernardeschi is one of those players that will make Juventus fans rise from their seats when he collects the ball in the final third.”
He is now expected to join his new teammates in the United States as they are set to play in the International Champions Cup. They lost the last game in the tournament against Barcelona 2-1.
Bernardeschi told the club’s official website: “It’s very emotional and I’ve got to thank everybody because there were a lot of people here to welcome me, making me feel their affection, and I want to thank them.
😐 ➡️ 😁#BenvenutoFederico pic.twitter.com/awdtz8kglI
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) 24 July 2017
“I’ve always said that Gigi [Buffon] is an example, not only for me but for everybody, and he’s from the same city as me. He’s a World Cup winner and is going to be my captain at club level and in the national team, so I want to say thanks to him.”
Bernardeschi has played 72 Serie A games for Fiorentina but a move to bitter rivals Juve — a path also taken by Roberto Baggio — would see him go from hero to villain with fans.
Earlier, Fiorentina coach Stefano Pioli had told reporters: “He’s made up his mind.
“I’ve only spoken to him once on the telephone and I can’t waste my energy thinking about what could have been. We just have to think about the future.”
