New details have emerged about the lengths to which Juventus went in their attempt to sign Mile Svilar from Roma — and they reveal a level of creative thinking, and ultimately a firm rejection, that has now effectively closed this particular chapter of the summer’s goalkeeper search.
The Koopmeiners Gambit
Juventus’s pursuit of Svilar was not simply a matter of picking up the phone and making an enquiry. According to Calciomercato, the club actively explored whether Teun Koopmeiners — one of the most financially burdensome assets inherited by Giovanni Carnevali from the previous administration — could be offered to Roma as a makeweight in a part-exchange deal for the Belgian goalkeeper.
It was, in its own way, an elegant piece of thinking. Koopmeiners needs to leave Turin, carrying a book value of approximately €29 million and wages that sit uncomfortably on the balance sheet. Roma, under manager Gian Piero Gasperini, are a club that has demonstrated an appetite for experienced technical midfielders. On paper, the logic of the exchange was not entirely without merit.
In practice, Roma’s response left no room for interpretation. The Giallorossi were not remotely willing to sell Svilar — and certainly not to a direct Serie A rival. The proposal was dead on arrival.
Svilar Is Off the Table — Officially
The clarity of Roma’s refusal means that Svilar’s name must now be removed entirely from Juventus’s goalkeeping shortlist. Carnevali’s options in that position remain Dibu Martínez — for whom personal terms have already been agreed in principle — Guglielmo Vicario, and whatever further alternatives emerge as the window develops.
For Koopmeiners, meanwhile, the episode underlines just how difficult his situation is. An attempted use as a bargaining chip that failed before it started; a Galatasaray option he has already declined; and a book value that makes an outright sale at market rate extremely complicated. Resolving the Dutch midfielder’s future remains one of the thorniest files on Carnevali’s increasingly crowded desk.
