Raise your hand if, on 13 September 2025, you knew who Vasilije Adžić was. That is, the 13 September before the 91st minute — before that extraordinary missile from distance that stunned Yann Sommer and Inter, catapulted the Montenegrin teenager onto the lips of every Italian football supporter regardless of allegiance, and announced a talent that nobody outside the Continassa had previously been required to take seriously.
Exactly one year later — Sunday 13 September 2026 — Adžić will face “his” Juventus wearing the black and green of Sassuolo. The symmetry is perfect. The story it tells is more complex.
A Year of Low Minutage — and Then the Decision to Leave
After the goal against Inter, there were reasonable expectations that Adžić would force his way into Spalletti’s plans. It did not happen. Another year of minimal first-team involvement — 203 minutes across the entire season — produced the inevitable conclusion: he needed to play, and Juventus could not guarantee it. The loan to Sassuolo, agreed during the summer on a paid basis of €0.5 million with a purchase option at €12 million and a crucial counter-option retained by Juventus at €1.7 million additional, was the appropriate and well-structured resolution.
Three Matches, Two Goals, One Assist of Tacco — Everything Has Changed
In the neroverde of Sassuolo, under Alberto Aquilani’s patient and creative management, everything that was suppressed at the Continassa has found its natural expression. Three matches into the new season, Adžić already has two goals and a spectacular backheel assist for Volpato against Torino that generated immediate viral attention. He has accumulated 196 minutes at Sassuolo — already within touching distance of his entire first-team minute count at Juventus across the previous season.
The transformation is not merely statistical. It is environmental. Aquilani has given him responsibility, continuity, and the freedom to fail without the weight of Turin’s expectations pressing on his every touch. He is playing with a smile — as confirmed by his post-Bologna reaction, caught by Sky’s microphones: “We were joking on the bench when they scored. We don’t joke anymore.” It is the lightness of a talent that has finally found his context.
Meno Male Che C’è la Recompra — Thank Goodness for the Counter-Option
Gazzetta’s conclusion captures perfectly what every Juventus supporter will be feeling as they watch Adžić’s name on the Sassuolo team sheet on Sunday. The counter-option at €1.7 million over Sassuolo’s purchase price — insisted upon and secured by Carnevali — now looks like one of the most intelligent contractual provisions of the entire summer. With two goals and growing evidence of a player reaching a new level, the possibility of paying €13.7 million total to bring him back to Turin at the end of the season is no longer merely theoretical. It is being actively and warmly considered.
The goal against Inter last September announced Adžić to Italy. The goals for Sassuolo this September are beginning to answer the question of whether that announcement was a flash of individual brilliance or the opening statement of something enduring. As Sunday approaches, and as Juventus prepare to face him across the pitch for the first time, the answer appears to be moving, month by month and goal by goal, in the more exciting direction.
