Southampton loaned out Charly Alcaraz to Juventus in the January transfer window and he’s endured a nightmare time in Italy so far.
Southampton captured Charly Alcaraz for £12 million from Racing Club in January 2023.
He made a bright start to life in the Premier League, particularly impressing in a 3-3 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium as he scored and assisted.
Once the Saints were relegated from the top flight, they lost several of their star talents as anticipated, including the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Tino Livramento and Romeo Lavia.
Alcaraz was expected to join that list of departures, but instead remained at St Mary’s and committed his long-term future to the club by signing a five-year contract in November.
The dynamic midfielder was called up to international duty with Argentina for the very first time and despite impressing in the top flight, found himself behind Stuart Armstrong in the pecking order in the Championship with Juventus pouncing to sign him on loan in January.
Alcaraz couldn’t believe it when the Italian giants were interested but he hasn’t made an ideal start to life in Turin with the 21-year-old now suffering an injury in training.
Carlos Alcaraz has made a bad start to life at Juventus
The skilful South American saw a move to a European giant as an opportunity to showcase his talent on a bigger stage.
Sadly, the switch hasn’t gone as he would have hoped so far and has made just two starts, one of which was against Napoli last time out.
Although he assisted in that defeat in Naples and was credited with always looking to move the ball forward, his heavy touch killed multiple chances and offered a less-than-stellar defensive presence.
Following a less-than-certain start, the Juventus official website has reported that Alcaraz picked up a hamstring injury in training and the extent of the injury will be re-evaluated in 10-15 days.
Juventus unlikely to buy Alcaraz
Juventus hold an option to buy Alcaraz for around £40 million following the completion of his loan deal.
Given the Old Lady were banned from the Champions League and fined £17.4 million for breaking financial fair play rules, it’s unlikely they’ll take up the option to sign the Argentine permanently, especially after he’s not made the greatest of starts.
This means that Alcaraz, who earns £40,000 a week at Southampton and sees his contract expire in 2027, will return to St Marys in the summer.
It will be interesting to see whether Russell Martin will look to offload the skilful midfielder in the summer or attempt to integrate him back into the squad.
Certainly, if the Saints do remain in the Championship, they’ll have to cut their cloth accordingly and Alcaraz is someone who they could part ways with.