Spalletti agreement that was essential for Juventus job

Luciano Spalletti is ready to put pen to paper at Juventus, but the decisive element was his acceptance of a contract to June with automatic renewal for Champions League qualification.

As we had explained already, Spalletti was always the first choice for the job after the club decided to pull the plug on Igor Tudor not even three months into the season.

Roberto Mancini had already been on the outskirts from yesterday and was never really a Plan B, while Raffaele Palladino was only kept warm as an alternative in case the negotiations didn’t go well.

The former Italy boss was always the main focus and only an extraordinary change of strategy would see them drift away from that candidacy.

Today was delicate and the meeting with Spalletti laid the groundwork for the agreement, confirming it was never really a two-horse race.

Ultimately, what we suggested yesterday afternoon may well prove to be decisive, because he immediately accepted the proposal of a contract until June, with option for automatic renewal for another season in case of Champions League qualification.

Once that hurdle was out of the way, he was always leading the race and just hurtling towards the signature.