Italy: Mattia Perin’s move to Palermo is a shocking first—something that has never happened in nearly 100 years

Mattia Perin has officially left Juventus for the first time since 2021 and is no longer under contract with the Bianconeri for the first time since 2018 (in the meantime, he spent a season and a half on loan at Genoa between 2020 and 2021). The permanent transfer of the goalkeeper from Ciociaria to Palermo, in Serie B, thus marks an unprecedented situation in nearly 100 years. In fact, the current Serie A does not have a single player in its ranks who has even been called up to the Italian national team for a World Cup.

The data speaks for itself: Italy has not participated in the World Cup since the 2014 edition in Brazil, during the ill-fated campaign led by then-head coach Cesare Prandelli. Twelve years later, most of those players have long since retired, and several are even coaching in Serie A (Daniele De Rossi at Genoa, Alberto Aquilani at Sassuolo, Ignazio Abate at Torino, while Thiago Motta and Andrea Pirlo are currently without contracts after both having played for Juventus, among other clubs). Perin, who did not play in that World Cup as he was the Azzurri’s third-string goalkeeper, was the last one still able to play in the top national league.

A Serie A without any Italian players who have ever participated in a World Cup is almost unheard of—something that obviously hasn’t happened since 1934 (when Vittorio Pozzo’s Azzurri won the Rimet Cup). From a certain perspective, however, one could even go back to 1931, the year Juventus signed Luisito Monti—an “oriundo” (a player of foreign descent)—who had played a leading role for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup. He was not Italian by birth, therefore, but by naturalization, as his parents were born in Emilia-Romagna. Yet he was effectively a world champion while playing for the Azzurri as well, since in 1934 he took the field wearing the tricolor on his jersey all the way to the final won in Rome. From then on, and until Perin’s transfer, such a situation had never occurred again.

Serie A could still find a way out of this situation, but perhaps only in theory. In fact, some clubs in Italy’s top league could sign Matteo Darmian or Mattia De Sciglio, who—unlike Perin—at least saw playing time at the 2014 World Cup and have been free agents since July 1, 2026, and the same date last year, respectively. Salvatore Sirigu has not yet technically retired either; he, in turn, will be a free agent starting in 2025. Also still playing are Mario Balotelli (though in Dubai, for Al-Ittifaq), Marco Verratti (at Al-Duhail in Qatar), and Lorenzo Insigne. Insigne, playing for Sampdoria, is at least the last Azzurro from the World Cup still playing in an Italian league—even if it is Serie B.

Darmian, in fact, is one of the names being tracked by the Italian transfer market in recent weeks. The fullback, now a free agent after leaving Inter, has been linked to Torino, where he would return to the environment that launched his career in top-flight soccer and where sporting director Gianluca Petrachi works. A possible move to Torino, under the guidance of Ignazio Abate—who was also a key player in that World Cup in Brazil—would bring at least one familiar face from that squad back to Serie A. At the moment, however, this remains purely speculative.

Meanwhile, on the Juventus front, the dual departures of Perin and Michele Di Gregorio—who moved to Bournemouth on loan with an option to buy—have forced the Bianconeri to act once again in goal. The solution they’ve identified is Kamil Grabara, a Polish goalkeeper born in 1999 from Wolfsburg, who will arrive on loan with an option to buy to serve as the backup to Guglielmo Vicario. A completely revamped goalkeeping unit, then, for Juventus: Perin’s departure definitively brings an era to a close and, at the same time, consigns that statistical record—as unique as it was unexpected—to the history books.