On deadline day of the winter market, Southampton let Carlos Alcaraz join Juventus on a loan deal with an option to buy set at €49.5m.
At the weekend, the midfielder made his third appearance for the Serie A side against Frosinone, coming on in the 28th minute after Adrien Rabiot suffered an injury.
Prior to the clash, Juventus technical director Cristiano Giuntoli spoke to Sky Italia and provided a background on how the deal for the Southampton owned player took shape.
Giuntoli said the 21-year-old was brought in to provide Massimiliano Allegri more options in the middle of the pitch.
“We are very happy with the boy who has just arrived, we have protected ourselves from possible injuries and so on. We carried out a light operation, also correct from an economic point of view,” he said.
“We didn’t need to hire a starter, but to increase the squad numerically by taking on a future prospect.
“We had the need to get in a boy who would not disturb the progress of a group which we are very happy with, the possibility happened to us 48 hours before the end of the market and there was no time to negotiate the contract. In the future there will be the way and time to talk about it with the club he belongs to.”
The director’s comments further make clear the Turin club have no intention of making the Argentine’s stay permanent by exercising the €49.5m purchase option.
Last week, Calciomercato reported the possibility of extending his loan deal shouldn’t be ruled out.
After Juve’s latest win, Sky Italia had a chat with the Southampton man, and he stated he feels confident of featuring for the Old Lady. He was also asked about his future plans and his quotes are relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb.
“It’s still early to talk about it, big matches await us starting from the one against Napoli. I don’t want to think too much about the future, I’m trying to do my best. My head is here, we need to think about resting and starting to prepare for the next match with Napoli,” Alcaraz explained.
