Juventus prepare for another new dawn as the Serie A campaign gets underway
The 2024/25 Serie A season will see Juventus embark on a transition. While they have witnessed a transition period before, this one will likely be a completely new one.
When Juventus hired Maurizio Sarri, it was hailed as a revolution. It was a step away from the club’s DNA, as they attached themselves to a completely new playing style and identity. When Sarri left a season later, another revolution was said to take place under Andrea Pirlo, who brought the promise of another new style of play and refreshing ideas that were far from what Max Allegri had in his first long stint at the club.
But Allegri returned, as Juve abandoned the transitions and went back to their older identity with the re-hiring of the former boss. The club stagnated and while they did win silverware last season, the fans had grown tired of what the club planned under Allegri and there was a clamour for a breath of fresh air.
It would be a mistake to suggest that Juve will go down the same path as before, as they prepare to undergo another identity surgery under Thiago Motta.
The former-Bologna boss takes over the reins are a hugely impactful spell at Bologna, where he took the Rossoblu to the Champions League and turned the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Jhon Lucumi and Riccardo Calafiori into stars, utilising their strengths in his progressive brand of football.
As a new era dawns, there is certainly reason to be cautious but there are also reasons to be quite optimistic, and here, we look at why the Bianconeri faithful should be assured that this transition will not be the same as the ones that have gone before.
Cristiano Guintoli’s presence
Cristiano Guintoli arrived at Juve some months ago after a stellar stint at Napoli, where his exceptional recruitment helped them win Serie A.
What stands out in Guintoli’s case is his ability to sign undervalued yet quality players and how he never backs away from replacing key players with lesser known names of the same profile. His recruitment isn’t based on looking at where the big names lie, but more on what the squad demands are.
Juve have kicked themselves in the foot in recent years by ignoring the needs of the squad and signing players on the basis of availability. Guintoli won’t do that, as his track record shows, and his recruitment is always based on the system in place at the club.
Any manager would want that and especially Motta, who operated under a similar sporting director in Giovanni Sartori at Bologna.
Old guard being moved on
During the previous couple of transitions at Juve, one problem that always stood out was the constant presence of the same old players that operated under previous managers. The squad never underwent any major surgery and only minor changes were made, while keeping the old guard or players that don’t add value to the new identity.
In comparison to the earlier transitions, the new era has been much more ruthless. Alex Sandro has left, Mattia de Sciglio is expected to leave, Wojciech Szczesny has had his contract terminated and Federico Chiesa and Filip Kostić have been excluded from the project too. Weston McKennie also looked to be out until his recent return.
It shows that the club is quite keen on bringing in new and perhaps younger players for a manager who has a track record in getting the most out of promising stars. Motta would rather make superstars than manage them right away and the club seems to be following the same route.
Exciting new arrivals
Juve have essentially reformed their entire midfield. Douglas Luiz has arrived from Aston Villa, Khéphren Thuram has joined from Nice and Teun Koopmeiners will soon join from Atalanta and all three of them can operate in the same midfield.
Nico González seems close to arriving from Fiorentina and Juan Cabal has signed from Verona too. All of these signings fix the club’s issues.
Those arrivals have joined also because of some of the exits such as Dean Huijsen, Matías Soulé, with club graduates Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea used in the Douglas Luiz deal. Moise Kean and Koni de Winter have also departed, giving a lot of wiggle room for Juve to operate in despite the tight financial realities of Serie A.
They have upgraded from what they previously had and the window hasn’t even closed yet.
A thriving academy
The Juventus Next Gen plan has yielded them a lot of money this season and it has led to them signing all the aforementioned players. But Kenan Yıldız is expected to play a bigger role this season and the Next Gen side is expected to keep churning out more talent as time goes on.
Fabio Miretti and Nicolo Fagioli are very much in the squad and Vasilije Adžić and Joseph Nonge are expected to be in and around the first-team at some point soon.
If the players don’t add quality to the first-team, they will most definitely fetch the club money that can be used in signing other players. No other Serie A side has this setup and Juve are well in position to use what they have.
Clear reasons for optimism
Unlike how things were earlier, the club seems to be pulling in the right direction. There were times earlier when the owners, Andrea Agnelli and Pavel Nedved had varying opinions, leading to decisions that weren’t always the most efficient.
The club, with Guintoli and his team, have a sporting-first identity and Nedved and Agnelli are not around anymore. The major players at Juve seem to be on the same page.
While Motta’s project might take some time to come to full fruition, his ideas around the game will become definitive for the club and what it stands for. He will be given much more time than Sarri and Pirlo were ever given and even if there is a reason to be cautious for every new project, Juve seem to be taking the right steps.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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