Juventus Signs Guglielmo Vicario on Loan

Juventus have finally shut the door on Emiliano Martinez and turned it decisively towards London.

After weeks of grinding talks with Aston Villa, the Italian giants walked away the moment it became clear the Premier League club would not move from their €15m (£12.8m) valuation. No discounts, no compromise, no deal.

So Juventus changed target – and changed tempo.

Vicario’s return to Serie A

According to The Athletic, the Bianconeri reached a total agreement on Monday with Tottenham to bring Guglielmo Vicario back to Italy, handing the 29-year-old a Serie A homecoming just a year after he left Empoli for north London.

The structure is classic Juventus: calculated, flexible, low risk. As reported by Tuttosport, Vicario arrives on loan with a non-mandatory €10.5m (£9m) purchase option. Juventus get a full season to judge him under pressure. If he convinces, they buy. If not, they walk away without being tied to a heavy fee.

It is a sharp contrast to the Martinez pursuit, which had begun to look like a financial dead end.

Tottenham turn the page

For Spurs, Vicario’s exit underlines a clear shift under Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian coach has already identified Antonin Kinsky as his preferred No 1, and the goalkeeper hierarchy at Tottenham is being rebuilt in his image.

Vicario’s year in England never quite settled. He started brightly after his move from Empoli for around €20m, stepping into the void left by Hugo Lloris and initially looking every bit the long-term successor. Then came the bumps: a handful of high-profile errors, a loss of rhythm, and finally hernia surgery in March that cost him his place.

By the end of last season, his starting spot had gone. Now so has his Premier League chapter.

Shockwaves in the Juve goalkeeping union

In Turin, his arrival immediately changes the internal landscape. Vicario is not coming to be a backup. He is coming to start.

That reality throws Michele Di Gregorio’s position into doubt. According to Fabrizio Romano, Juventus have already offered the current keeper to Marseille and other European clubs on loan, a clear signal of where the hierarchy is heading.

The dressing room knows what this means: the gloves are being handed to a new man.

Spalletti’s blueprint

This move also fits neatly into Luciano Spalletti’s tactical demands. The Italy coach, now shaping Juventus’ next phase, has pushed for a goalkeeper comfortable playing out from the back. Vicario showed that side of his game regularly during his early months at Tottenham, where his distribution and composure under pressure stood out.

His form dipped late in his Spurs spell, but inside Juventus there is a strong belief that a return to the more structured, tactical environment of Serie A can reset him. The pace is different, the defensive organisation tighter, the demands more familiar.

For a goalkeeper trying to rebuild confidence, that matters.

A defence under construction

Vicario is not arriving in isolation. Juventus are reshaping the entire spine of their backline. The recent signing of Jhon Lucumi from Bologna already signalled a defensive overhaul; adding a new first-choice goalkeeper only deepens that transformation.

New centre-back, new goalkeeper, new way of building from the back. Spalletti is stitching together a team that starts its play with the man in gloves, not just the man in midfield.

Vicario now steps into that role. After a turbulent year in England, he gets a second chance in a league he knows, at a club where the margin for error is thin and the expectations are brutal.

If he gets it right, this loan will not stay a loan for long.