Juventus have five center backs who could start for the vast majority of teams in Serie A. Danilo has been the surprise star of the season. Veterans Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini are still quite good at their jobs, even as Chiellini continues to miss time with injuries and Bonucci frequently gets targeted by the fanbase for his defensive errors. And then there’s the young duo of Matthijs de Ligt and Merih Demiral, who can rule the league for years to come.
Of those two young center backs, de Ligt is the entrenched man at the heart of the Juventus defense. He is “future captain” material and cut from the same cloth as Bonucci and Chiellini when it comes to his leadership and toughness.
The Dutch defender has played 915 minutes this season with 10 starts, only missing time due to injury. Demiral, on the other hand, has a meager six starts and 557 minutes played in Serie A. Gianluca Frabotta has actually played more minutes than Demiral.
It’s no wonder that Demiral expressed frustration with his role this winter. Despite rumors linking him to a move away from the club, such as an unlikely move to Liverpool, nobody took those rumblings seriously. Demiral was always going to remain a Juventus player.
Juventus have started Merih Demiral in Serie A just once since November
But in the interest of developing a 22-year-old center back and avoiding a tough falling-out, it remains in Juve’s best interests to give Demiral more minutes. There was a point in time this season when the Turkish international was getting regular starts, but outside of the Coppa Italia, that hasn’t been the case recently.
Demiral appeared in recent Serie A clean sheets over Roma and Bologna, but he was a substitute in both matches. Per WhoScored.com, Demiral got a combined six minutes across those two matches. That’s hardly much time to make an impression.
Most recently, Demiral came off the bench again, playing 55 minutes in the loss to Porto as Giorgio Chiellini’s injury replacement.
By and large, Demiral has been impressive defensively this season, especially in the Champions League and Coppa Italia. He and de Ligt partnered up quite well against Inter, after all, and now Juve are headed to the cup’s final after eliminating their most fearsome rivals.
It isn’t easy to fit in all the center backs in, which is why we’ve seen Danilo start at left back or right back at times this season. But Demiral can’t fall by the wayside. His development is too important, and five-minute cameos in Serie A just won’t cut it. Demiral is one of the best center backs in the league, and with Chiellini nearing his end in Turin, maximizing Demiral’s progress becomes even more important to Juventus.