Juventus trigger Gonzalo Higuain release clause

It’s happened: Juventus will sign Gonzalo Higuain, having triggered his €94 million release clause and agreeing terms on a contract. Higuain will leave Napoli, and is expected to be presented to Juventus fans in the next few days.

The news comes out of nowhere, with Juventus seemingly having abandoned their pursuit of Higuain a week ago after being rebuffed repeatedly by Napoli. This time, though, they took the direct route, triggering his release clause and leaving Napoli with no choice.

The transfer will be the most expensive ever in Italy, and the second most expensive overall, behind only Gareth Bale’s €100 million transfer to Real Madrid two years ago. He’s also signing a contract that will be the biggest in Italy at almost €8 million per season, well beyond the €6.5 million Daniele De Rossi makes.

It’s a very unfortunate situation for Napoli, losing their top scorer and an incredibly valuable striker. They do, however, now have a lot of money to play with to salve that wound, and the drive to improve their team for the upcoming season, though obviously that will now require a bit more work.

Various rumors are connecting Napoli to various strikers, but time will tell in how they replace Higuain. It’s going to be a difficult task, but there is, however, now room in the budget to spend more freely without worrying about overspending, something that’s tripped Napoli up this summer. Hopefully they spend this money well, because this team now needs to add some serious firepower for the Champions League.