SPORT
Vicario's Juventus Loan Signals Serie A's Premier League Pull
Tottenham goalkeeper heads to Turin after Martínez move collapses
Tobia Marenghi468 wordsEdition №87Tuesday, 18 August 2026 — Edition № 87
Juventus have agreed a deal with Tottenham Hotspur for goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to join on an initial loan, according to the Guardian, after the Italian side decided against a move for Aston Villa's Emiliano Martínez. The BBC confirms Tottenham accepted a loan offer that includes an option to buy, with Vicario having lost his No 1 slot at Spurs to Antonin Kinsky.
The move returns the 29-year-old Italian to Serie A after a spell in north London, and it hands Juventus a proven top-flight keeper without a permanent commitment. The Guardian notes that Coventry and Ipswich have also been busy in the market, but the Vicario deal stands out as one of the window's more significant cross-league moves.
For Italian football, the transfer is a rare instance of a Premier League side exporting a starting-calibre player back to Serie A, rather than the other way round. The loan structure, with an option to buy, reflects Juventus's cautious approach to spending in a summer when the club has been rebuilding under new management.
The deal's background is the collapse of Juventus's pursuit of Martínez. The BBC reported that the Aston Villa goalkeeper is facing an uncertain future after his proposed move to Juventus fell through, leaving the Argentina international in limbo at Villa Park. Juventus's pivot from Martínez to Vicario suggests the Turin club wanted a cheaper, lower-risk option between the posts, one who knows Italian football intimately from his earlier career at Cagliari and elsewhere.
Vicario's path illustrates the modern transfer market's fluidity. He moved to Tottenham in 2023 as a first-choice signing, but the emergence of Kinsky under the club's current coaching staff pushed him down the pecking order. The BBC's reporting frames the loan as a solution for both clubs: Spurs offload a high-earning squad player, while Juventus secure cover and competition without a large upfront fee.
Seen from the Sport desk, the transfer carries a wider signal. Serie A has spent much of the past decade selling its best talent to the Premier League, but this window has shown a reverse flow, with Italian clubs increasingly willing to borrow from English sides rather than buy outright. Juventus's preference for a loan deal over a permanent transfer for a player of Vicario's calibre reflects the financial constraints still shaping Italian football, where clubs remain wary of committing big sums in a market dominated by English purchasing power.
The Guardian's report also places the move within a broader flurry of late-window activity involving English clubs, noting Coventry and Ipswich as active participants. For Juventus, the immediate priority is a reliable goalkeeper for the season ahead, and Vicario offers a known quantity who has performed at the highest level in both Serie A and the Premier League. The option to buy gives the club flexibility to make the move permanent if he settles in Turin.
No further details of the loan fee or the option price have been disclosed in the wire, and the Guardian does not specify when the deal is expected to be completed. The BBC's coverage confirms only that Tottenham have accepted the offer, with the player's medical and contract terms presumably still to be finalised. For now, the move stands as one of the more notable goalkeeper transfers of the summer, returning an Italian international to his home league.