With the transfer window in full swing, countless players are swapping teams in hopes of taking the next step in their careers. Simone Zaza and Angelo Ogbonna followed suit and joined Juventus and West Ham, respectively.
Juventus have been extremely active on the transfer market
until now as they have already acquired Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Sami Khedira, Daniele Rugani and Norberto Neto. Today, they continued their spending spree and added Simone Zaza to their ranks for €18m. The Italian champions invested a significant amount of money in the side already and are now looking to recoup some of that money. As a result of this, Juventus have put Fernando Llorente and Angelo Ogbonna on the chopping block. The latter has been attracting serious interest from the Premier League and appears to be on his way to West Ham for €12m plus bonuses. While Ogbonna and Zaza have certainly shown promise, both players will have to considerably step up their game if they aspire to become regulars with the national team. Interestingly enough, the players took two very different paths in order to accomplish this.
Simone Zaza began his rise to prominence with Sassuolo two seasons ago. Together with Domenico Berardi, the 24-year-old formed a fearsome partnership and caught the attention from all around Italy. That’s when Juventus decided they would take a risk on the duo and purchased the players. After negotiating with Sassuolo over the co-ownership of each player, Juventus inserted options to buy on both Zaza and Berardi. Today, they exercised the option on Zaza and brought him to the club for the upcoming season. While the €18m price-tag appears a bit hefty on first glance, the bianconeri didn’t spend this amount in reality. Let’s break it down.
In 2010, Juventus bought Zaza from Sampdoria for €3.5m. Sassuolo then paid €10m a year later and bought Zaza. Today, Massimiliano Allegri’s side spent a further €18m on the player. All in all, Juventus spent €21.5m on Zaza and received €10m for him bringing their net expenditure on him to around €11.5m. Considering today’s market for strikers, I believe Juventus paid fair market value for him. Moreover, Zaza will reportedly earn approximately €2.3m in annual wages. After looking at how much Juventus will spend on the player, both in transfer fees and annual wages, it can be said that it’s a shrewd move on Juventus’ part. The same, however, cannot be said for Zaza.
At Juventus, Zaza will be behind Mario Mandzukic, Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala in the pecking order and will not receive the same amount of playing time that he would at Sassuolo. With the European championships just around the corner, Zaza’s decision to join the bianconeri is a baffling one. At the moment, the former Sassuolo man is in Conte’s plans for the Azzurri but that may change if he doesn’t receive regular playing time. It must be noted, though, that Allegri has shown the ability to rotate the squad efficiently in the past. Due to this, the striker may very well get his chances to shine but he has to make the most of them. In addition to this, training at a club like Juventus every day has its merits. With the Italian champions, he will be training with champions every day and will have access to some of the best facilities in all of Italy. Sassuolo, on the other hand, cannot afford the player the same luxury. While I can see the motives behind Zaza’s move, I don’t necessarily agree with them. You would think that the striker would learn from those who tried something similar to him and failed.
Look no further than Angelo Ogbonna. The 27-year-old joined Juventus following a strong season with Torino and many expected him to establish himself as a mainstay in both Juve’s and Italy’s starting lineup. When Ogbonna arrived from Torino, he would see just how difficult achieving this would be. At Juventus, he found Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and arguably Martin Caceres ahead of him. As a result of this, Ogbonna found playing time hard to come by. Moreover, when he did play he failed to inspire any sort of confidence. This was largely due to the fact that he would often make cameo appearances and never fully hit his stride. To make matters worse for the defender, Juventus recently signed Daniele Rugani from Empoli. The former Empoli man is widely expected to be one of the best young defenders in football and would be ahead of Ogbonna in the pecking order. Juventus and Ogbonna then decided that it would be best for both parties if they parted ways. When Premier League clubs like West Ham and Everton came calling, Ogbonna couldn’t turn them down and decided to sign with the Hammers.
With West Ham, Ogbonna will likely get regular playing time and may finally live up to the early promise in his career. By doing so, there is a good chance that he might catch the attention of Antonio Conte and earn a call-up to the national team. At 27 year’s old, the time for Ogbonna to prove himself is now. Luckily, he will get the chance to do so in England. The question remains, however, what can Zaza learn from Ogbonna?
Two seasons ago, Ogbonna signed with Juventus despite having several suitors. In hindsight, the defender might have been better off pursuing a different career path. Zaza, on the other hand, was bound to Juventus due to the club’s option to buy him and didn’t have much of a say in this regard. While the player is eager to join the bianconeri’s ranks, he will have to make sure to avoid making Ogbonna’s mistakes. For one, he will have to take full advantage of the chances presented to him in a way Ogbonna wasn’t able to. Moreover, Zaza will have to learn how to adapt to life as a substitute. At Sassuolo, he was the go-to guy along with Berardi. Ogbonna occupied a similar role at Torino but saw his influence reduced at Juve. The player’s success with the bianconeri will largely depend on his ability to to adapt his game. He will go from being a big fish in a small pond to quite the opposite. While Ogbonna tried to do this and failed, Zaza cannot afford the same to happen to him.
One factor that may be in Zaza’s favour, however, is that a strike force operates completely different from a back-line. In defense, consistency is everything and the same players typically start most matches. In attack, on the other hand, the manager usually goes with the hottest hand. If Zaza somehow becomes this, he will see his playing time significantly increased and may succeed in ways Ogbonna could only dream of. Due to this, I can see the 24-year-old succeed at Juve. That said, it won’t be easy task for him. In essence, he is the striker version of Ogbonna from two seasons ago. He will, however, be hoping to achieve different results by learning from those who came before him and failed.
The post Ogbonna’s Failure Should Serve As A Lesson For Zaza appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
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