The goalkeeper situation at Juventus has reached its most significant moment yet. Tuttosport reports this morning that both Spalletti’s technical staff and Giovanni Carnevali himself have made direct contact with Guglielmo Vicario — and the Italian international has responded with an unequivocal yes.
Vicario’s Answer Is Clear — and the Logic Is Equally So
The initial call from Turin to Vicario had a very specific purpose: to sound out the goalkeeper’s genuine willingness to join the bianconeri, and to assess whether personal terms could be agreed without complication. Vicario’s response left no room for doubt. After three years of mixed fortunes at Tottenham — marked by impressive individual performances but institutional uncertainty, a persistent sense of unfulfilled promise, and now the brutal reality of being placed third in the goalkeeping pecking order behind Kinsky and Martin Dubravka by Roberto De Zerbi — the Italian is ready, willing, and eager for a new chapter in his homeland.
Carnevali has moved personally to formalise the approach, opening direct dialogue with De Zerbi himself to convince Tottenham to sanction a loan. The formula being discussed is a straightforward temporary arrangement — a loan without purchase obligation — which suits Juventus’s financial constraints perfectly. Taking Vicario on those terms would allow the club to deploy its available cash resources on the more pressing and expensive business of securing a striker, rather than committing capital to a permanent goalkeeper signing.
Dibu Remains First Choice — but Villa Will Not Blink Below €10 Million
Every step taken towards Vicario, however, is explicitly conditional on the collapse of the Dibu Martínez pursuit. The Argentine is still, by a considerable distance, the name that Carnevali, Massara, and Spalletti most want. Only Alisson — for whom a faint but persistent hope lingers at the Continassa that Liverpool might yet open a small door — comes anywhere close to competing with Martínez on the club’s internal preference list.
The problem is Aston Villa’s immovable stance. The Birmingham club will not release their goalkeeper for less than €10 million — a figure Juventus consider excessive for a player approaching his 34th birthday and one that sits uncomfortably within the constraints of the UEFA Settlement Agreement. Nothing short of Martínez himself engaging in a direct and forceful confrontation with the club will shift that position. Until that moment arrives — and it can only come once the World Cup is concluded and the Argentine returns from his tournament duties — Villa will not budge.
Securing Vicario as a concrete, agreed fallback is therefore not merely prudent planning. It is operationally essential.
Di Gregorio: Leeds Make a Tentative Enquiry, Premier League Interest Remains Modest
In the background, the position of Michele Di Gregorio continues to evolve without resolution. Leeds United have made a very early and cautious enquiry, though their primary goalkeeper target remains Zion Suzuki of Parma — and they want to resolve that situation first before pursuing Di Gregorio as an alternative. Aston Villa, for their part, are also monitoring Suzuki as a potential Martínez replacement, adding another layer to what is becoming one of the summer’s most complex goalkeeper market puzzles.
Roma’s Mile Svilar, meanwhile, has been firmly removed from consideration following the revelation that Juventus actually offered €40 million for the Belgian in June — only to be rebuffed immediately by the Giallorossi, who have no intention of selling their first-choice goalkeeper to a domestic rival at any price.
A Summer That Has Begun and Ended with the Same Goalkeepers
The broader reality, as Tuttosport bluntly acknowledges, is a stark one. By the end of May, Spalletti had already anticipated the imminent signing of Alisson — only to see that deal evaporate entirely. He is now heading into Basilea’s pre-season friendly on Friday with the same three goalkeepers who saw out the previous campaign. That is not the outcome anyone at the Continassa envisaged when the summer began. Whether Vicario’s loan, or Martínez’s eventual intervention with Aston Villa, can finally resolve a pursuit that has consumed the entire first month of the window remains the defining goalkeeping question of the entire summer.
