Juventus are one of the biggest football entities in existence. They have dominated the Italian football scene in a way that has not been seen before.
But all things end, and after watching them fall to the Europa league their reign as top contenders has shockingly come to an end. Let’s dig through it.
The Pillars Of Success Were Not Reinforced
On 26 July 2020, “The Old Lady” secured a ninth consecutive title under new manager Maurizio Sarri. It was an incredible feat that was accomplished with the help of extraordinary talents.
If you look at the caliber of players that represented Juventus during those glory years, most of them are revered as legends of the game.
Players like Carlos Tevez, Georgio Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Paulo Dybala, and Cristiano Ronaldo who won it twice with them in back-to-back years.
Most of these legendary figures have not been adequately replaced.
If we take a look at the signings made over the past two seasons by Juventus we notice that the quality of the squad has reduced either due to lackluster transfer decisions or the inability to complete transfers of wanted targets.
2021-2022 Transfer Window
In this shocker of a transfer window, we experienced a severe talent drain take place as Juventus saw a large contingent of their trusted starting eleven depart.
the biggest news was the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. the man had arrived in Italy aged 33. He immediately got to work doing what he knew, scoring goals.
By the time he left Juventus he had contributed 101 goals and 22 assists in 124 games, winning the serie A back to back in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, the coppa Italia in 2018, and the Italian super cup in 2018 and 2020.
Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur departed for Tottenham which led to Dejan kulusevski’s breakout season for Tottenham where he was a consistent performer recording 5 goals and 8 assists in 18 games propelling Tottenham to a top-four finish.
Dusan Vlahovic the wonderkid arrived for 80 million to replace Cristiano Ronaldo. Weston Mckinnie, Moise Kean, Denis Zakaria also arrived. Manuel Locatelli arrived on loan in a stellar move by the way.
to recap, they spent over 120 million to replace 53 million in outgoings.
Moise Kean had endured a torrid time in Everton and although he performed better at Paris Saint Germain, Heaping The Responsibility Ronaldo carried on the back of vlahovic and Kean has proven to be a bad path.
Dusan vlahovic has made the most of his situation as the main man. Last season he contributed 7 goals and an assist in 15 games having played 1079 minutes. this season he has manufactured 6 goals and an assist in 10 games and has only played 854 minutes.
He is improving dramatically and is unfortunate to be stunted or overshadowed by the club’s quicksand situation.
Moise Kean on the other hand has struggled to fulfill his early potential. The youngster produced 5 goals and 3 assists in 32 appearances last season.
This season he has 1 goal in 10 appearances. The dependence on vlahovic as the sole source of goals for a club in a situation such as Juventus is the last thing he needs to aid his development. A flailing strike partner is also among the last thing he needs.
2022-2023 Transfer Window
This window saw a massive exodus of talented players and club icons alike. There were a lot of promising additions made to the team so to judge it now is probably still premature.
Matthijs De Ligt departed the club for Bayern in a deal worth 70 million. I don’t see this as a good deal. De Ligt is one of the future greats and losing him to a club like Bayern for 70 million is not a good deal for Juventus.
Aaron Ramsey, Douglas costa, Georgio chiellini and federico bernardeschi all left on free transfers.
Mehdi Demihral and Rolando Mandragora left for Italian rivals Atalanta and Fiorentina respectfully.
Arthur Melo and Denis Zakaria left for Liverpool and Chelsea.
But the biggest controversy was that La Joya, Paulo Dybala, a man that has captained Juventus Before was going to leave on a free transfer to Roma and help Jose Mourinho revitalize their rivals who recently just won a european trophy.
Dybala has proved to be a hit in Roma, providing a different option entirely and bringing out the best in young attackers Tammy Abraham and Nicolo Zaniolo.
The talented frederico chiesa arrived from fiorentina to join Vlahovic. This was a stellar signing as the Italian maverick offers instant results while he also has the capacity to increase exponentially.
Bremer arrived to shore the defense up and 29-year-old Serbian assist specialist Filip Kostic was also welcomed to the fray.
We also witnessed the return of Paul Pogba who arrived on a free transfer from manchester united. Given the fact that Pogba was currently leaving a fallen giant situation in united, it’s stunning that he opted for a giant currently falling in Juventus.
Arkadiusz Milik joined on loan from marseille and has been featured in the first eleven heavily, including champions league games. 34 year old veteran journeyman angel di maria also arrived on a free transfer from PSG.
Juventus had a drastic squad overhaul. These things are supposed to take time, not all players integrate within weeks. It can take a player a full season to play his best football for a new club.
The consequence of the risk Juventus took is that they have now reached a point where they are the underdogs when pitted against Benfica. That was not possible 2 years ago.
They have fallen because most of their signings have failed to perform, they are now in the europa league.
They currently are 8th in the serie a rankings and if they fail to secure champions league football they won’t be able to attract the caliber of players they want, therefore staying in this drastic rehaul limbo for years.
