Denis Zakaria moves to Juventus

Borussia’s midfielder will join the Italian record champions with immediate effect. The two clubs came to an agreement on the transfer on Sunday evening, with the Switzerland international completing his medical on Monday morning. The various paperwork and contracts were exchanged between the clubs after this.

Denis Zakaria, whose contract at Borussia would have expired in June 2022 and was subsequently offered a contract extension, made it clear in December that he would had no plans to extend his stay with the Foals but would rather open a new chapter in his career. The Switzerland international midfielder will fulfil this wish, after requesting a transfer to Juventus during the January transfer window.

“There has been a lot of work put into this transfer in the last few weeks and Denis has had an important role in pushing the move through,” said Borussia’s vice president Rainer Bonhof. “He made it clear to us that he wanted to change clubs and also let us know that he wanted to give Borussia a transfer fee for the move. This made sense from our end in terms of the financial implications of the deal, so we agreed to the deal. We would like to thank Denis for his honesty and openness, as well as for his performances at Borussia over the last four and a half years. We wish him all the best and good luck for his new journey.”

Denis Zakaria moved to Mönchengladbach in 2017 from BSC Young Boys, and made 30 Bundesliga appearances (2 goals) and three in the DFB-Pokal for the club in his debut season. The following season, he appeared in 31 Bundesliga matches (4 goals) and one DFB-Pokal game. In 2019/20, the Switzerland international played 23 league games (2 goals), along with six Europa League games and two in the DFB-Pokal. Zakaria missed the end of the season with a knee injury, which also caused him to miss the start of the 2020/21 campaign.

He made his comeback in November 2020, going on to appear in 25 Bundesliga games (1 goal), five Champions League and two DFB-Pokal matches for the Foals. This season, the 24-year-old has featured in 16 Bundesliga games (2 goals), as well as two DFB-Pokal matches. Overall, Zakaria made 142 competitive appearances for the club across the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League and Europa League.