The Franck Kessié pursuit that has defined the midfield chapter of Juventus’s summer has entered its most conclusive phase — and on the morning of Friday 29 August, with three days remaining before the window closes, every piece of reporting from the most authoritative voices in Italian football is pointing in the same direction: the deal is coming.
Thursday’s Meeting — Positive but Not Yet Conclusive
On Thursday 27 August, Carnevali, Massara, and Ottolini sat down with George Atangana — Kessié’s agent — at a Milan summit that Corriere dello Sport describes as having produced meaningful progress without yet reaching a definitive agreement. The session was constructive: both parties left with a clearer sense of where the remaining gap lies and a commitment to continue discussions into Friday.
The specific issue holding back a conclusion is the signing bonus — an element that Juventus want to either spread across the contract period or tie to the player’s optional third year of the deal, rather than paying it in full at the point of signature. For a club operating under UEFA Settlement Agreement constraints, managing the timing of large one-off financial commitments is not merely prudent — it is structurally necessary. Kessié, who had already accepted a significant reduction from his original demands, is being asked to make one final concession on this point.
Kessié Has Rejected Saudi Arabia Again — and Rome Is Not Tempting Him
The broader context of Thursday’s meeting is equally significant. A new and financially substantial offer from Al-Ittihad — understood to have exceeded €10 million per year — arrived on Kessié’s desk in recent days and was declined without hesitation. Roma, meanwhile, entered the race as disruptors — Gasperini’s interest is genuine — but the Ivorian’s response, delivered in a direct call with Massara, was definitive: Juventus first, Juventus only.
That loyalty — sustained across three months of waiting, multiple competing offers, and the frustrating sequencing of exits and arrivals that has characterised the window’s midfield business — is the central fact of this deal. A player of Kessié’s stature and financial alternatives does not choose Turin on the basis of sentiment alone. He chooses it because he believes in the project, trusts the manager, and wants to compete at the highest level of European football under the guidance of the director who made him a Scudetto winner.
Romano: “Five Minutes Could Be Enough”
The most encouraging signal of all came from Fabrizio Romano, who confirmed Juventus’s intention to close the deal regardless of further outgoings and delivered the line that will have been received with enormous relief in Turin: “For the former Milan player, five minutes could be enough to close the deal — to bring him to Turin, complete the medical, and see him wearing the Juventus shirt.”
It is, in Romano’s characteristically precise language, as close to a guarantee as the transfer market ever produces. The deal is agreed in its essentials. The signing bonus structure is the last obstacle. The window closes on Monday. And Massara — the man who turned Kessié into a champion — is the person best placed to find the final compromise. Three months of patience. Three days remaining. One last detail to resolve.
