Bargain of summer? Juventus steal Bremer as Chelsea & Man Utd sleep

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 20 Jul 2022 20:22 BST
• 5 min read

Manchester City fans will rightly argue that Erling Haaland’s €60 million signing from Borussia Dortmund is the bargain of the summer so far, but Gleison Bremer’s imminent move to Juventus certainly is a close second.

The Bianconeri have pulled the pants down of their bitter rivals Inter, who had seemed certain to sign Torino’s brilliant Brazilian centre-back.

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Inter agreed personal terms with Bremer at the end of 2021. The 25-year-old and his agent subsequently promised the Nerazzurri they would join the club this summer.

All that was required was for Inter to pay Torino a cut-price fee for Bremer. The Granata agreed they would let Bremer go for a fee in the region of €30-35m.

Inter waited and waited and waited to close the deal. Bremer and Torino were incredibly patient, honouring their agreement with the Nerazzurri and waiting until the middle of July before they were even prepared to entertain other offers.

But eventually, after seven months, they had enough of waiting.

Juventus, fresh from making €80 million on Matthijs de Ligt, swooped in to offer Torino and Bremer a much better deal.

The deal was officially announced on Wednesday.

And it will be a sensational signing for Juventus, both from a sporting and financial point of view.

On the pitch, Bremer was by some distance the best defender in Italy’s Serie A. Indeed he was officially named Serie A Defender of the Year.

Playing in the middle of Torino’s back-three – but also capable of occupying the right or left centre-back roles – Bremer was a colossus for Ivan Juric’s side.

He boasts lightning pace, is strong, aggressive and competitive, and is superb in the air.

According to InStat, Bremer had the most interceptions in Serie A with 317.

He also had the most ball recoveries in the division by a long way. His 419 ball recoveries is 27 more than the next highest in Italy – Jose Palomino of Atalanta – and 97 more than third-best Koray Gunter of Verona.

Even more astonishing is that Bremer had the third most ball recoveries in the opposition half in Serie A. Only Marcelo Brozovic and Milan Badelj (both midfielders) had more. Considering the fact he is a defender, this is remarkable and it illustrates just how good Bremer is at pressing high up the pitch and stealing the ball from the opposition. This is a trait that is perfect for aggressive teams with a high defensive line.

His competitive nature means he challenged for more balls than anyone in Italy, and he was fourth in Serie A for aerial challenges won (again the most for any defender).

Naturally, Bremer is a threat in the opposition box and he scored three goals last season in Serie A, in addition to five the term before. This included a memorable goal against Inter, which played an important role in them not winning the Scudetto. Juventus fans loved that.

Bremer has also gained a reputation for shutting down Serie A’s best strikers. He completely cancelled out Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic during the Turin derby in February, as well as Inter’s Lautaro Martinez and Milan’s Olivier Giroud the following month. He was man-of-the-match in all these games.

To sign such a player for €41m plus around €8m in add-ons is a steal. Juventus will make a €30m profit on their replacement for De Ligt, who is joining Bayern Munich for €80m. Bremer’s salary will be €4m plus €1m in add-ons – just over half of what De Ligt was earning in Turin. All this despite Bremer being the far superior player last season.

The only question mark is how Bremer adapts not just to a big club but more so to a four-man defence, given he played in a three-man backline for Torino.

What is certain is that the Premier League were sleeping on Bremer. Chelsea and Manchester United, in particular, have desperately been searching for a centre-back of Bremer’s type.

Both Thomas Tuchel and Erik ten Hag wanted an aggressive, pacy, central defender who can excel in a high-line and recover the ball. Bremer ticks every box.

Ideal for a three-man defence, Bremer would have slotted in perfectly for Chelsea but the only Premier League team to show any kind of concrete interest was Tottenham.

The Premier League’s loss – and Inter’s – is now Juventus’ gain. They will sign the best defender in Serie A – and make a €40m profit while they are it.