Daniele RUGANI

After Joris Gnagnon returned to Seville at the end of his loan spell, Stade Rennais went in search of a central defender, and chose to recruit Daniele Rugani at the end of the Summer transfer window. The centre-back, developed by Empoli, had spent five seasons at Juventus, where he had struggled to establish himself as a first-team regular, whilst still achieving 7 caps for the Italian national team. The defender arrived on loan (costing Rennes 1.5 Million Euros) with no buyout clause, and joined a Breton club who are participating in the Champions League, in which he already seen action with the "Bianconeri". After one solitary appearance in Ligue 1, he suffered an injury after 16 minutes of the Champions League tie at Sevilla, which thus became his last appearance in a Rennes shirt. After returning to fitness at the start of 2021, his loan spell was curtailed on 1st February. His return to his parent club, Juventus, was short-but-sweet, as he was loaned straight back out to Cagliari until the end of the season.