Leverkusen's Arturo Vidal signs for Juventus

Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal is leaving Bundesliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen after four seasons in Germany to join Italian Serie A giants Juventus Torino on a five year contract.

The 24 year old Vidal has been in the news across the summer with the player wanting to leave Leverkusen for a bigger club, ideally German rivals FC Bayern Munich but Bayer 04 Leverkusen made it clear that they would only sell Vidal to a club outside of Germany. This saw interest from Italy, Spain and England with Leverkusen saying that the fee would have to be above 10 Million Euros to tempt them to sell the player.

“I’m happy, it’s a big and important step for my career at one of the biggest clubs in Europe,” said Vidal in Santiago de Chile before leaving for Italy.

“I’m very content about this new opportunity that I’m being given. It’s a new team which is being built with the aim of being champions and qualifying for international competitions.”

Vidal added, “My experience in Germany will be useful to me in Italy because tactically it’s a similar kind of football.”

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Director of Sports Rudi Voeller has been in Italy over the last few days to work out the details of the transfer with Juventus. In the end a fee of 10,5 Million Euros was decided which could rise to 12 Million Euros in the case of success. 30% of Vidal’s rights still lie with Chilean club Colo Colo, who earn 3,6 Million Euros from the deal.

In Munich the management of Bayern Munich aren’t too happy about Vidal’s move as they thought they would get Vidal from Leverkusen this summer even though it was proving to be difficult. Their coach Jupp Heynckes, last seasons coach at Leverkusen, was sure to sign Vidal; but now the player seems to have become restless and wanting a move so he signed for Juventus.