Top five best free transfer signings by Juventus

The club have a history in signing free agents and getting the best out of them.

Juventus FC is hailed for their shrewd business in the transfer market. The club has a history of recruiting sensational players on a free transfer. Keeping up with the trend, the 36-time Italian champions have brought in Angel Di Maria and Paul Pogba on a free transfer ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Angel Di Maria becomes yet another world-class player arriving at the Serie A giants on a free transfer. He has won multiple league titles in Spain and France. The Argentine was a free agent after running down his contract at Paris Saint-Germain. A brilliant advantage of a free transfer is that the purchasing club does not have to pay any transfer fee. 

It leaves a lot of room to spend money on other areas and Juventus has used this strategy quite a few times in the past. A lot of success that the club has enjoyed in recent years was built on recruiting free agents. Keeping the focus on free transfers done by the Old Lady, here are the top five of them.

Dani Alves

Alves joined Juventus FC in 2016 from FC Barcelona. He won the Italian Serie A in 2016-17 during his one-year stint with the club. It was a poor decision to let go of the Brazilian by the Blaugrana as he featured against them in the UCL quarter-final, inflicting a 3-0 defeat in the first leg. 

Alves spent one season with Juventus. He played in the UCL final and won the league and the cup double in that very successful year. Later, he joined Paris-Saint Germain on a free transfer and won honours there as well. 

Sami Khedira

Sami Khedira is another in a long list of free transfers by Juventus. The German international joined the Serie A outfit from Real Madrid. He won multiple titles with the Los Blancos, including the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League. The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner with Germany was an incredible inclusion on a free transfer.

His arrival was crucial to the success and domination of Juventus in the domestic sphere. He won five league titles successively with the club. Khedira also helped the club win the Italian Cup three times and one Italian Super Cup. 

Gianluigi Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon signed for Juventus FC twice. His first stint cost the club around €52 million in 2001, a transfer record for goalkeepers for years. He signed for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, after spending 17 years with the Italian giants. However, in an incredible return, the custodian joined the Old Lady again, on a free transfer in 2019.

The legendary Italian went on to break the club record for most appearances in his second stint. Before leaving for Parma in 2021, Buffon won a Serie A and a Coppa Italia with the Old Lady.

Paul Pogba

Paul Pogba arrives at Juventus FC before the 2022-23 season after completing his contract at Manchester United. In fact, this is the second time that the Frenchman is making this exact move. He joined the Serie A outfit for the first time in 2012 after a free transfer from Manchester United where he was part of the club’s prestigious academy.

Paul Pogba returned to the Premier League by signing for the Red Devils in 2016 for €105m. During his first stint with Juventus, Pogba won four league titles in four years and became one of the most talented midfielders in Europe. Having earned €105m on selling a free player and then buying him for free again looks utopian in this world of crazy transfer records, but that's exactly why Juventus is known as the best when it comes to free deals.

Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo is arguably the best free transfer made by Juventus in recent memory. The legendary Italian midfielder joined the club after leaving AC Milan in 2011 after a decade of success with them. The move backfired amazingly as Pirlo established himself as a legend at Juventus, winning the league four times in four seasons. 

Andrea Pirlo’s managerial stint at Juventus FC may have been a failure. However, the free transfer of the midfielder was massively successful. The 2006 FIFA World Cup winner won seven trophies with Juventus. 

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