Juve’s transfer market this year is lining up to be one of the most interesting since the Conte revolution of 2011.
The (premature) return of Carlitos Tevez to Boca Juniors is a given, along with Alessandro Matri‘s “return to sender” despite an egregious year at Allegri’s court in which the Lombard forward provided superb performances that led to the conquest of Juventus tenth Coppa Italia.
Tevez’s scoring prowess (29 goals in all competition in 2014-15) will be tough enough to replace, but his contribution to Juve’s game ought not be underestimated. Tevez often came deep to pick up the ball and carry game play up the field.
These departures have left Juventus with the likes of Fernando Llorente (also likely to part ways with the bianconeri), Alvaro Morata, and Kingsley Coman in the forward department.
However, CEO Marotta and his collaborators have not stayed idle, readily buying out Palermo’s wonderkid Paulo Dybala. The Argentine is not yet 22 years of age, but has taken Serie A by storm in 2014-15 as the first player to record double-digit figures for goals and assists, finishing at 13 goals and 10 assists. It’s no surprise that Juventus was forced to make the most significant investment of the Andrea Agnelli era: €32 million plus an additional €8 million in bonuses to the Sicilian club. Dybala doesn’t come with Tevez’s experience or leadership, but he’s likely the Apache‘s most natural replacement in terms of pedigree, size, and technical characteristics.
Another addition made official this week has been Croatian international Mario Mandzukic. The 29 year-old arrives at Juventus under similar circumstances than Tevez did: he’s in his late 20’s, has been known to have a temper, has Champions League experience, and a great goalscoring repertoire. In fact, the former Atletico Madrid forward has recorded a near 50% scoring rate in Spain and at Bayern Munich. Of course, his physical and game play characteristics make him very different from Tevez, and more so a likely replacement for (or dare I say improvement over) Llorente.
Juventus brass have been sowing the seeds of the best Italian talent and it seems that harvest season is here. The acquisition of Dybala and Mandzukic will likely see the addition of Sassuolo’s striking duo Simone Zaza and Domenico Berardi. Zaza has had quite the “alternative current” season, coupling great performances to some rather flaccid ones. However, at 25 years of age and two Serie A seasons under his belt in which he scored 20 goals in 68 games, he seems ready for a jump as Juve’s 4th choice striker.
Domenico Berardi, on the other hand has had a superb season. Like Dybala, the Calabrian has registered double digit goals (15) and assists (11), albeit he’s unlikely to be the eventual penalty shot taker at Juventus. The future of Berardi is, at the time of writing, uncertain with the likelyhood of one more year at Sassuolo being the rumoured outcome. His future is at Juventus, however, as the bianconeri have reached an agreement with the Emilian club that will grant them the sporting rights.
So, is Juventus stronger in attack? Yes, but spread over multiple players. As far as raw talent, Dybala, Berardi, and even Zaza are very positive and powerful players, but it must be said that the forward department is left with players with little Champions League experience, with the likes of Mandzukic and Morata (and Coman to a limited extent) to be the only ones who have featured in the foremost European club competition.
Does Marotta have an ace up his sleeve to round out Juventus’ attack?
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