Report: Kenan Yildiz wants to be Juventus’ highest-paid player as part of new contract

The Kenan Yildiz contract extension talks have taken a new turn.

It’s not necessarily a bad one per se. Nor is it one that we should be particularly surprised by considering his extremely fast trajectory to impending stardom. But it’s a development nonetheless — and one that feels like it’s now on Juventus’ table to try and figure out their next move.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Giovanni Albanese on Wednesday, Yildiz has essentially set two major conditions when it comes to the contract in which his camp and the Juventus front office are currently discussing. The first, as you might expect, is that he wants a competitive club that will be in contention for silverware in a relatively quick fashion. The second, and arguably just as important, is that Yildiz — as well as his agent Jorge Mendes — wants to be Juventus’ highest-paid player when he does end up signing the new deal that we have been repeatedly told by Giorgio Chiellini will happen in due time.

Yildiz, who has signed contract extensions the previous two season since being fully promoted to the Juve senior squad under Max Allegri at the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, currently earns a salary around €1.7 million net per season.

You can squabble about Yildiz’s camp asking for such a large salary — that’s understandable. The assumption that it would be more like what Jonathan David earns — about €6 million net — than the extraordinary salary that Dusan Vlahovic currently pulls in during the final year of his contract this year. That’s the good thing.

But as time goes on and Juventus are still waiting to agree to a new deal, put up a grand press release and have Yildiz snap some photos while signing his big new contract, it’s just drawing out the process of arguably the most important deal this club has tried to close with a player already on their roster in at least a couple of years.

There is no risk of Yildiz leaving on a free like Vlahovic, Federico Chiesa or Paulo Dybala, but it’s pretty clear that the Yildiz camp — namely super-agent Mendes — wants the young man that they represent to be paid as the club’s top player should likely be played. It’s reflective in just how fast Yildiz has developed into a budding star that we’re sitting here talking about a third contract extension in as many seasons, with this one clearly holding more of a financial commitment than the previous two. Is it too early to commit a salary upward of €6 million net for a player who doesn’t even turn 21 years old until July? Maybe. But, at the same time, Yildiz is the kind of talent that you need to keep locked into a contract in which he is satisfied with for as long as possible.

Because the last thing Juventus need is for any sort of temptation to play in something other than bianconero and call a city other than Turin his home.