Fiorentina's Move to Revive Joao Mario's Juventus Career

Fiorentina see an opportunity where Juventus see a dead end.

The Viola are in advanced talks to take Joao Mario on loan from Juventus with an option to buy, a deal that would total around €8-9m and could finally give the Portuguese full-back the continuity his career has lacked in Italy.

It would mark a sharp drop from the €12m Juventus paid FC Porto in the summer of 2025. His value has slipped, and the structure of that original agreement underlines it: Porto are owed 10 per cent of any profit on a future sale. At these figures, there is no profit, and Porto get nothing.

For Juventus, the message is clear. Joao Mario has no real future in Turin.

The 26-year-old never truly settled under the weight of expectation. Across his time with the Bianconeri he managed just 13 appearances and a single assist before being moved on in January, sent to Bologna as part of an exchange that saw Emil Holm travel in the opposite direction.

The spell at Bologna, though, showed flickers of the player Juve thought they were signing. Fifteen games, two goals, more personality in his play. Enough to suggest he can still be a useful Serie A full-back, but not enough for either club to commit. Bologna declined to buy. Juventus brought him back, but only to place him straight back on the market.

Now Fiorentina have stepped in.

According to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio, negotiations are well advanced for a season-long loan with an option to buy at the end of the campaign. The figures being discussed – between €8m and €9m in total – reflect both his uneven form and Fiorentina’s belief that there is value to be unlocked if he finds the right environment.

For Fiorentina, it is a calculated move: a player still in his prime years, already adapted to Serie A, with attacking output from full-back and a point to prove. For Juventus, it is a chance to draw a line under a signing that never caught fire and to free up space and salary for other moves.

For Joao Mario, it is something else entirely: perhaps the last big chance to show that his story in Italy is not already written.