Max Allegri is a man held in high regard by Juventini. When he left Juventus, he left on top, having won five straight Scudetti. And the Bianconeri have not progressed further than the Champions League Round of 16 since he resigned in spring 2019, having won about 70 percent of his matches at the helm.
This season, Juve are a lock to lose their streak of nine straight Scudetti. They could win the Coppa Italia and add that to the Supercoppa Italiana as their silverware in Andrea Pirlo’s first season ever managing a side, but with the Bianconeri at risk of falling out of a Champions League place entirely, Pirlo’s future is most definitely not safe.
There have been a number of managers linked to Juventus, even as unrealistic as Hansi Flick and as lofty as a move for Real Madrid’s splendid Zinedine Zidane. But the name we see discussed the most among Juventini is none other than Allegri.
Even the rumor mill is picking up on things, with La Repubblica’s Antonio Corbo writing, via Forza Juventus on Twitter, that Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has already agreed to a deal with Max Allegri.
Juventus’ current squad is not ideal for any manager
Of course, we have to take everything on the rumor mill with a grain of salt. Agreements are not agreements until they are official. And official means a direct statement from the club. So do not go around telling your friends that Juve have hired Allegri, unless you want to run the risk of looking a fool.
However, the fact that a report that strongly worded is making the rounds is a sign that the Allegri rumors are only going to heat up. Juventus lost last weekend to Atalanta and dropped more points to rivals Fiorentina in their most recent fixture. So if Pirlo cannot maintain a top-four finish for the Bianconeri, a club of Juve’s stature will almost certainly look in another direction. It’s basically how most elite clubs run things. If you fall that short of expectations, there have to be consequences.
But some Juventini will argue Pirlo deserves another chance, citing the unequal makeup of a squad that must be retooled after years of poor decisions from management. It’s not that Juve’s management is incompetent; it’s just that they weren’t proactive enough in fleshing out a young core and thinking beyond patchwork free agent moves.
So Pirlo is not working with an ideal squad at all. He has no real left-sided midfielder, nor does he have two starting-caliber center midfielders who can start for a team that demands winning Serie A every year and pushing for Champions League titles. The depth at striker is non-existent, and there is too much reliance on the individual brilliance of a couple of attacking players.
Do these sound like ingredients that make for a successful reunion for Allegri?
Max Allegri is currently a better and more accomplished manager than Andrea Pirlo
There is no doubt that Allegri, right now, is a better manager than Pirlo. To even contemplate arguing otherwise would be blasphemous. Yes, Pirlo is intelligent, has great potential, and is a legend of Italian football. But he has accomplished close to nothing as a manager. Allegri, meanwhile, is one of the best managers we have seen in Serie A over the past 10 years. Most fans seem to have Allegri or another former Juve manager, Antonio Conte, at the top of their list.
So Allegri is an upgrade in that sense. The problem is this. Is he the right man for what Juventus need in 2021?
Zinedine Zidane’s second stint with Real Madrid has been excellent, but it has not been without bumps in the road. He’s also had to navigate unideal squad conditions during a pandemic that has prevented his team from signing great players. But unlike Juventus, Real still have a world-class core of Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Dani Carvajal, Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Karim Benzema. They have eight players who have a legitimate case at being the best in the world in their respective roles. How many players of that caliber do Juve have? The answer is, honestly, just one. Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sequels are almost never as good as the original. It is a cliche in Hollywood, and it holds true in football. Zidane is seemingly the exception to the rule. Perhaps Allegri can, likewise, be an exception, but he would be taking a serious risk of souring the legacy he left in Turin by returning to a squad in serious need of long-term care.
Juventus have issues with their foundation
Allegri is an established manager with a clear vision for how he wants to play. He is more adaptable than most great managers, but he is still a strong character who wants to have the right players at his disposal. And maybe he saw the writing on the wall, leaving at just the right time and on his own terms. If he were to return, he would probably be unable to fortify the squad with who he wants, considering he’d be managing a team with little money to spend. Worse yet, they would be even more financially constrained, since Allegri probably would only get the job if Juventus don’t qualify for the Champions League in the first place
You can see how this would not be an ideal situation for a manager like Allegri.
Pirlo is the profile of the kind of manager Juve should want. Young, ambitious, and someone with respect for the club who can grow with the club in this transition period. However, if Juve truly feel like Pirlo’s ideas are incompatible or do not believe in him, they may have to make a change. The problem is that Allegri may be an ill-fated stopgap solution.
Hiring him could lead to a Zidane-like turnaround, but it’s just as likely it would lead to Juve delaying the work they truly need to do in order to fix their foundation. Whether or not a second Allegri stint works out could hinge on the moves he’s able to make, and it is hard seeing him having much room to work with in a pandemic and with no Champions League football.