OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Denis Zakaria heads to Monaco in €20 million deal

When Denis Zakaria arrived at Juventus, he was looked as a player who could help a midfield that was very much in need of just that. He had a very unique set of skills and was viewed as a low-cost move to address a big-time area of need.

A year and a half later, Zakaria is now moving away from Turin for good.

Juventus announced Tuesday evening that Zakaria, one of the players who on the outside looking in of the squad this summer from the get-go, has finalized his move to Monaco in a deal that is worth an initial €20 million. As was previously reported, Juventus will also have a sell-on clause in the deal for the 26-year-old Zakaria, who is now reunited with his former manager at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Adi Hütter. It was Hütter who pushed hard for Monaco to make the deal for Zakaria, with Juventus able to leverage that desire into a deal where they make a nice sum of money for a player who was always set to leave Turin this summer.

The official wording of the deal, courtesy of Juventus’ press office:

Turin, 14 August 2023 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that an agreement has been reached with AS Monaco Football Club for the definitive disposal of the registration rights of the player Denis Lemi Zakaria Lako Lado for a consideration of € 20.0 million, payable in four financial years.

This operation, net of auxiliary expenses (solidarity contribution, intermediary fee, sell-on fee), generates a positive economic impact of approximately € 4.6 million on the 2023/2024 financial year.

Consider where things stood a week or so ago: Zakaria looked to be heading to Monaco on a season-long loan deal. That changed to a straight sale. Now, as things have become official, Juventus gets €20 million and a sell-on clause whenever Monaco sells him to a new club. That is good business for somebody who was never going to appear in a game for Juventus again after his loan deal with Chelsea didn’t work out last season.

In a summer in which Juve very much needs money to keep things running because there’s no European football and the income that comes with it, that’s some quality business from Cristiano Giuntoli.