Luis Suárez’s Passport Could Prevent Him from Signing for Juventus

The 33-year-old Uruguayan striker is not in the plans of new Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman for next season. The Dutch coach told Suarez the decision in a cold and short call a few days ago.

As reported by Mundo Deportivo, Suarez would already have advanced talks to sign for Juventus de Turin. The Bianconeri club would even be willing to pay some money for the transfer, even though they could get the player at zero cost.

The intention of the Vecchia Signora to pay for the player transfer is to preserve the magnificent sports and institutional relationship they have with Barcelona. The Blaugranas are very interested in lowering the club’s salary burden and improving finances in general, so they would welcome receiving something for the Uruguayan’s transfer. In fact, the projected exits of Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, and Arthur Melo would save the club 40 million euros. If Suarez is added to these, the savings can reach 70 million euros.

While negotiations are well advanced with Juventus, Suarez could face setbacks to land in Turin. Although the forward has been in Europe for many years, he has never applied for a community passport. Juventus no longer have quotas for foreign players, which could complicate the signing of Suarez.

Suarez must move quickly and apply for Spanish citizenship, to which he has the right since he has been working in the country for more than two years. Or he can apply for Italian citizenship, which would not be so difficult to obtain since his wife is of Italian origin.