Speculations on the new destination for the next club season of the Italo-Cuban men’s volleyball superstar, Osmany Juantorena, have reached their climax recently. There are none anymore…
In an interview for La Gazzetta dello Sport, a three-time MVP of the CEV Champions League and four-time MVP of the FIVB Club World Championship, Osmany Juantorena, confirmed he’ll be playing on the Chinese courts in the next club season. It’s something that the veteran player announced at the start of the last season, his seventh successive season in which he defended the colors of Cucine Lube Civitanova. And it’s also something that the media in Italy have been announcing since the last ball rolled over Italian SuperLega’s courts in 2021-22. Even though he trained with Lube until a couple of weeks ago, Juantorena had already decided on his path at a club level for 2022-23.
“I’m curious to know the Chinese culture and understand the level of the championship. I know what I leave, but I don’t know what I find,” said the outside hitter who, since 2009, with an interlude of two seasons in Turkey (from 2013 to 2015) has been one of the undisputed stars of the Italian Championship. First with Itas Trentino, then with Lube, he won it all: 6 Italian league titles, 6 Italian Cups, 1 Italian Super Cup, 5 FIVB Club World Championships, and 3 CEV Champions Leagues. But today, the 37-year-old Cuban-born naturalized Italian (a part of the ’Azzurri’ between 2015 and 2021) won’t be among the players that’ll start SuperLega. He’ll definitely play in the Chinese Super League with Shanghai until the end of January.
Even though he had a contract for another year with Lube, he asked the club to be released. However, Juantorena didn’t rule out the possibility of returning for the playoffs of the Italian Championship when the season in China closes in January. The player named Vero Volley Monza and Allianz Milano as possible destinations in 2023…
See our sections – Transfers – Done Deals and Transfers – Rumors.
