Spalletti wants Salah at Juventus, ten years after Roma, with a free transfer and a Europa League pitch
Luciano Spalletti wants to start Juventus's rebuild with the player he turned into a star at Roma a decade ago. La Repubblica reported on Tuesday that Spalletti is pushing Juventus to sign Mohamed Salah this summer, the 33-year-old Egyptian set to leave Liverpool on a free transfer after the club confirmed his exit in March. The pitch is straightforward. Spalletti needs a marquee name. Salah is free. They have already worked together.
Juventus need a story this summer. They finished fifth in Serie A on a final day they should have closed out, throwing away a two-goal lead away to Torino in the Derby della Mole. AC Milan went down with them. It is the first time since 1991-92 that neither club is in the Champions League, and Juventus drop into the Europa League with the second-highest wage bill in Italian football behind Inter and a coach who has just signed through 2028.
The Roma connection
Spalletti took charge at Roma in January 2016. Salah was there on loan from Chelsea, had been since the previous summer, and was about to be signed permanently for €15 million that August. The 2016-17 season under Spalletti was the one where Salah moved from a quick winger into the all-format finisher the world saw a year later at Anfield. He hit double figures in both goals and assists in the league, Roma finished second behind Juventus, and Liverpool came in with the bid that started the rest of his career.
Ten years on, the player and the coach are in very different places. Salah leaves Liverpool with 257 goals, the third-highest tally in the club's history, and a confirmed exit announced on 24 March 2026 after a falling-out with Arne Slot in December. Spalletti has rebuilt his stock at Juventus by going from a 30 October 2025 caretaker brief to a long-term deal through 2028, even after the Champions League collapse.
Why this might not happen
Juventus sporting director Marco Ottolini already denied it once. Speaking in April, before the Tuesday Repubblica story, Ottolini was direct: "What is being said about negotiations to sign Mohamed Salah is not true. There is absolutely nothing about it at this time." The April denial does not rule out a renewed approach now that the Liverpool exit is confirmed and the Serie A finish is decided, but it is the public position on the record.
The financial picture also has to land. Salah's last Liverpool wage was around £400,000 to £500,000 a week. Juventus do not pay those numbers and the Saudi Pro League will. The same La Repubblica piece notes that Saudi clubs are circling for a third consecutive summer, and Salah has been clear that his preference is to stay in European football until he has decided when to stop. Whether Juventus can match his second-tier European wage demand is the open question.
The 2025-26 season is done in Italy. The Serie A summer window opens on 29 June and closes 1 September. Spalletti has roughly a month to convince Juventus's board that the Salah idea is something other than nostalgia, and that a Europa League season with a 33-year-old in a number ten role is a higher-percentage gamble than anything else available on a free.
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