A new twist has emerged that could force Juventus into a legal battle in their bid to add Kaio Jorge to their squad.
The Bianconeri seemed to have seen off competition from the likes of AC Milan and Benfica to sign the young Brazilian from Santos on a pre-contract.
Because the attacker wants his current club to make some money from his sale, the Bianconeri had been negotiating a cut-price deal with the Brazilians that would see him join them now instead of January for free.
However, a new revelation is threatening to spoil the deal for Juventus as Santos claims that his contract with them is a five-year deal that expires in 2023.
He signed the contract when he was 16 and FIFA rules say he cannot sign a deal for more than 3 years at that stage in his development.
However, the Brazilian federation allows for clubs to sign players on to 5-year deals and FIFA respects it.
Football Italia reports that if this is proven to be true, then Juve’s pre-contract might become invalid.
Santos associate Sergio Canozzi told Sky Sport Italia via the same report: “We raised the player and took on the costs of his growth process. The player has a contract with Santos until 2023. We are talking to various clubs and are waiting for the offers to arrive.
“We don’t want to hold Kaio Jorge back, but we are waiting for offers.
“We’re talking to Juventus and told (director Federico) Cherubini that if he wants to talk to Santos, he can do it via Marcelo Galan, who is in Italy right now.
“Benfica made an offer, which was not accepted by his agent. It could be improved, but Benfica are having problems with what happened to their President and we preferred to work with Italy, which is where the player wants to go.”
