Baby-faced Francisco Barido, who joined Juventus last year, was snatched on transfer deadline day by the Serie A champions.
The 17-year-old signed for Antonio Conte’s team, and will kick off his career with the Partenopei as part of the Napoli Primavera squad. He will be coached by former Sorrento manager Dario Rocco, who favors a goal-getting 4-2-3-1 formation.
Barido impressed the Turin titans enough in 13 Argentina U15 matches to make the move from South America to Italy in February 2024, having progressed through the CA Boca Juniors set-up.
Thrown immediately into the Juventus Youth squad, he was promoted to the Juventus U17 side and made an impact with eight goals from 19 appearances but never got the nod to play for the Juventus Next Gen team.
Fast-tracked to Napoli Primavera
The attacking midfielder has been fast-tracked to the U20 squad, given shirt no30, at Napoli with ex-Juventus head coach Conte keen to keep an eye on his progress.
Being based in Europe, Barido is likely to soon find himself in a tussle for his international allegiance as his father is from Argentina and mother is Croatian.
Barido has now reunited with Napoli director Giovanni Manna, who fought off the interest from Barcelona to lure him to Turin last year when he was a Juventus director.
His agents, according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport, were demanding with Juventus and they could not reach an agreement over a new deal extending beyond 2026.
Juve's loss is Napoli's gain
Napoli, thanks to Manna, were swift to enter negotiations and Juve’s loss could be Conte’s gain in a couple of years and Igor Tudor’s loss. Barido seems destined to become one of the brightest stars from Argentina’s conveyor belt of talent.
Tudor does not particularly appear to be a fan of players who climb the ranks at Juventus, with the exception being Kenan Yildiz. The Turkish 20-year-old, like his former team-mate Dean Huijsen, has been nominated for the prestigious Kopa Trophy Ballon d’Or award.
The Juve manager has already been allowed to sell Juventus Next Gen graduates Samuel Mbangula and Nicolo Savona this summer, despite the club previously viewing the duo as potential stars for the Bianconeri.
Fabio Miretti would have been another Juventus Next Gen ace to have been sold last month, but the midfielder sustained a muscle injury during a pre-season friendly.
The chance to one day play at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, named after the Argentina and Napoli legend, would surely have helped sway Barido to switch from Juventus to Napoli.