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Juventus Sign Felipe Melo - Report

The Bianconeri have signed the Brazilian for €20 million plus Marco Marchionni, according to Sky Sport Italia...

Jul 8, 2009 3:00:46 AM

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Felipe Melo - Fiorentina (Grazia Neri)

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Juventus have signed Felipe Melo from Fiorentina for €20 million plus the full ownership of Marco Marchionni, according to Sky Sport Italia.

The deal has been done and official confirmation will arrive tomorrow. The total value of the deal equals the €25m release clause in the new Fiorentina contract that Felipe Melo only signed last week. The ex-Almeria man has signed a five-year contract in Turin worth €2.6m a year.

Juventus have been in the market for a top-class centre midfielder, and their primary target had been Udinese’s Gaetano D’Agostino. However, the failure to agree on a transfer fee had seen Juve look elsewhere for possible alternatives.

Over the last few days there had been widespread speculation over a move for Felipe Melo, who has also been tracked by Premier League side Arsenal.

On Saturday, Sky Sport Italia claimed that Felipe Melo’s agents had reached an accord with Juventus, and that Bianconeri officials were to meet their Fiorentina counterparts on Tuesday in order to arrange a transfer fee and close the deal.

This was followed by an official announcement on the Fiorentina website, which stated that the Viola had only received one firm offer from Arsenal, and that they were negotiating a cash-plus-player exchange with The Gunners, that player being Emmanuel Eboue.

The saga continued to play out, and only today Fiorentina transfer chief Pantaleo Corvino insisted that Juventus had still not made an offer, and that Arsenal were in pole position.

However, Sky Sport Italia, an extremely reliable source, claim that Felipe Melo is now a Juventus player.

The 25-year-old will become the third Brazilian member of the Juventus line-up, along with Diego and Amauri.

Carlo Garganese, Goal.com

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