Juventus Offloading Two Excess Players on Initial Loans | OneFootball

Juventus have started to whittle down their squad and are on the verge of sending Lois Openda to Olympique Lyonnais and Joao Mario to Fiorentina.

According to Tuttomercatoweb, the French team will pay €3M to have the striker on loan next season. It doesn’t appear that there’ll be an option to buy. The numbers are lofty and tricky. The Bianconeri formally acquired him for over €40M a few months ago. He appeared 34 times last season, although mostly off the bench, scoring just twice.

Juventus will be hoping Openda and Mario rehab their value ahead of future sales in their new homes. The forward had one of his best campaigns in Ligue 1, tallying 21 goals and 4 assists with Lens in 2022/2023.

Instead, the fullback is set for his second consecutive loan after playing at Bologna from January on. The teams are finalizing the deal. The clause to retain him should amount to €8/9M. He had a €12M valuation when he joined in a swap with Alberto Costa, who blossomed at Porto.

The new Old Lady management didn’t explore a new deal with Bologna, which had sent Emil Holm to Turin last winter. Instead, they addressed the role by signing Zeki Celik on a Bosman move.

Our Take on Juventus Offloading Openda and Mario

The permanent departure of the former will be a chore for years to come, unless he somehow rediscovers his mojo and starts scoring in spades, which seems unlikely, as he had been slumping even before he moved to Serie A. The exit of a striker, as he was still useful in training, could finally be a sign that they are close to completing one acquisition there.