Have Juventus Had The Best Summer So Far This Year?

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If you just look at the departures column then you’d be forgiven for thinking that Juventus have suffered this summer with legendary midfielder Andrea Pirlo and warrior striker Carlos Tevez both leaving Turin.

But La Vecchia Signora have a great history of replacing their best talents who decide to leave. The likes of Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli, Zinedine Zidane, Fabio Cannavaro, Pavel Nedved and Alessandro Del Piero have all left at some point and have all been replaced.

Simply put it’s the Juve way.

Yes ‘I Bianconeri’ will miss the battling qualities of Tevez. Obviously a class act like Andrea Pirlo won’t be forgotten. But both players are the wrong side of thirty. They had given the Italian giants their all and now leave with the clubs support cherishing all their achievements.

But you cannot stand still in football or you get left behind.

When Juve hired former Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri, I doubted what success he could have in the Juventus Stadium. But the forty-seven year old has came in and enriched the squad. Not bad considering the task he had in replacing club legend Antonio Conte.

Allegri helped guide them to yet another Scudetto (Juve’s fourth league title in a row, three coming under Conte). He also masterminded a Coppa Italia triumph, the first time Juventus had won that competition in twenty years!

But it was in Europe that Allegri really showed that his Juve pool had improved as they battled their way to the final and put up a great fight against eventual winners FC Barcelona.

So it goes without saying that the Juve faithful will come into next season with high expectations and faith in their manager and the club’s hierarchy.

The forward positions has always been a key in I Bianconeri’s ambitions. They have a rich history of having fantastic strikers.

They have two new men for next season with Argentine forward Paulo Dybala and Croat hitman Mario Mandzukic coming in to fill the void left by Tevez’s departure.

Dybala has already proven himself a great up and coming talent in Serie A. The twenty-one year old spent the last three seasons impressing at Palermo. He has already managed to make ninety league appearances in Italy, scoring twenty-one times.

Whenever I watch the striker, his pace and smart finishes remind me of compatriot Sergio Aguero. Staying in Italy and gaining Champions League exposure at Juve should only progress Dybala’s career.

Croatian Mandzukic is more the warrior type forward in a similar mould as Tevez. Although Mario has more of a physical style.

At Bayern, Mario Mandzukic scored more than a goal in every two games. He ended last season grabbing twenty in all competitions for Atletico Madrid.

Mandzukic is the proven hitman that Juve will hope that can score from the get go and bully opposing defenders. Whereas Dybala is a developing project that will hopefully become world class under Allegri’s tutelage.

Another striker, Simone Zaza, has come in under the radar. the former Sassuolo man might be the surprise package. The italian international forward has good technical ability and is a good all round frontman.

Early on in the summer Juventus announced the signing of German World Cup winner Sami Khedira on a free transfer.

Injury curtailed his final two years at Real Madrid but when fit the twenty-eight year old dynamic middleman can keep his side ticking over.

Certainly more defensive minded than Pirlo but Khedira will offer more legs in that midfield marshalling position. Could be an absolute bargain if he can remain fit!

It’s not all about summer recruitment during a teams offseason. They also need to keep key personnel.

Juve have had a great defensive spine in the last couple of years and keeping born leaders like keeper Gianluigi Buffon and centre-back’s Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chellini is extremely important to the Juve project.

Although Pirlo’s genius was well regarded, Juventus had another trio of midfielders that were equally as important. Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio have also been fantastic servants for the Turin giants. So having them stay could be vital in Juve improving next campaign.

Twenty-nine year old energetic central midfielder Marchisio is another one of those players that seems to embody the spirit of the Old Lady. He’s going nowhere anytime soon as he’s just signed a new five year contract with the club.

Both Vidal and Pogba have been linked all summer long with megabucks deals away from Italy but as of yet neither looks any closer to the exit door.

Vidal has had a mixed summer. He won the Copa America with Chile, but that win was slightly overshadowed by his drink driving arrest. Teams seem to be swithering about whether or not they should make a play for the box-to-box man. Arsenal and Real Madrid are supposedly considering an offer for him but Juve won’t be eager to sell, unless a huge bid comes in.

Possibly Pogba is looking for a move to Barcelona but with the Catalan side currently serving a transfer ban. A deal with Barca could be the best possible open to the Italian side. They would keep hold of the French star for one more season and then get around £70m for him, That would give them a full year to highlight and work on replacements, maybe Marco Verratti?

So all in all it looks to have actually been a fine summer for La Vecchia Signora as they continue in their tradition of improving and doing things in their own way, with their own classy style.

One Response to “Have Juventus Had The Best Summer So Far This Year?”

  1. Zaza ruins it for me. He is not good enough for Juventus and never will be and he cost us €18m. Should have pooled that money with the money from Ogbonna, Llorente etc.and signed a number 10 like Oscar, Isco, Özil, Götze etc. We also need a left-back.

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