Juventus: It’s a make or break season for Rodrigo Bentancur

Juventus’ round of 16 Champions League tie with underdogs Porto was barely a minute old when Rodrigo Bentancur embarked on a sequence that would set the tone for yet another continental humbling for the Old Lady.

Sergio Conceição’s high-pressing outfit quickly penned the Bianconeri into their own third, with Wojciech Szczesny picking out a simple pass to Bentancur in a bid to escape the hosts’ intensity. However, poor body orientation ensured the midfielder’s first touch was a negative one. Besieged by a ravenous batch of blue and white shirts, a return pass to Szczesny was Bentancur’s only option.

But the Uruguayan executed the simple back pass with the sort of tepidness that summarised his play for the majority of 2020/21. He sold his goalkeeper short, allowing Mehdi Taremi to charge down Szczesny’s attempted clearance for the all-important opener.

The sequence was a low moment in an error-ridden campaign for the stagnating Bentancur. This was a player who showed glimpses of promise under Massimiliano Allegri before emerging as a star under Maurizio Sarri. But now, with Allegri returning to the helm, the Uruguayan has arrived at a crossroads in his Juventus career.

He must bounce back in 2021/22.

Promising beginnings

Bentancur’s Juventus career was certainly a slow burner after arriving from Boca Juniors in the summer of 2017. Initially, the Uruguayan started as a part-time performer in a box-to-box role ahead of the then controlling regista Miralem Pjanic.

The midfielder was limited to a modicum of minutes in 2017/18, before blossoming at the start of the 2018/19 campaign following a stellar World Cup campaign with Uruguay. In Allegri’s midfield three, he sat deeper alongside Pjanic to allow the industrious Blaise Matuidi to maraud through the thirds. It was a function Bentancur performed dutifully, with Allegri describing the young midfielder as a player who impressed him “from a tactical and technical perspective” following his first Juventus goal in October 2018 against Udinese.

For many, Bentancur was the new darling of Turin. The man to take the mantle from Pjanic and follow in the footsteps of the greats that had preceded him: the Claudio Marchisio’s, Andrea Pirlo’s, etc. For a while, it looked like the Uruguayan would fulfil such an optimistic prophecy. Under Maurizio Sarri in 2019/20, he eventually usurped a demising Pjanic as the side’s regista after excelling as a number eight, with the Bianconeri proving a more efficient and aesthetic machine with the Uruguayan as the conductor.

Bentancur was key in Juve’s ninth successive Scudetto triumph.

The stagnation

However, Bentancur’s seemingly inevitable ascendance to stardom has faltered significantly and it’s not exactly easy to figure out why.

Andrea Pirlo was keen to continue his development as a regista; handing the midfielder a huge responsibility in the build-up phase, in particular. Nevertheless, his role wasn’t too dissimilar to the one he competently performed for Sarri. Why did his form fall off a cliff, Max Kellerman style?

Last season, the Uruguayan was bereft of the requisite technical security to execute the role effectively. Unforced errors emerged as a ubiquitous annoyance in his game, often hampering his side’s ability to play out from the back.  His manager, meanwhile, was aware of his player’s struggles.

“It is an important role,” Pirlo said in February. “He started the season a bit subdued, but last year he played a lot and he hadn’t had time to catch his breath. When he showed up in pre-season, he was still a bit tired, and he needed a few games, but now we have found the Bentancur we knew.”

Pirlo’s assessment of rediscovering the “Bentancur we knew” was certainly wide of the mark. This was a shell of the player that emerged with great distinction between 2018 and 2020. Nevertheless, there were signs of a resurgence towards the end of 2020/21.

A couple of impressive performances arrived once the burden was taken off him in possession. In a well-balanced but unspectacular midfield pivot with Adrien Rabiot, the Frenchman was happy to receive possession in deeper areas. This shift in Rabiot’s role was clear in the imperative 2-1 home victory over Napoli and the Coppa Italia final triumph over Atalanta, as Bentancur shone with his role simplified.

A make or break season awaits

Allegri’s default system of choice remains unclear for the upcoming campaign. The 4-2-3-1 has been rumoured, but the 4-3-3 has been utilised throughout pre-season up to this point. Nevertheless, Bentancur has plenty of competition in midfield, with Rabiot, Weston McKennie, Aaron Ramsey and, surely, Manuel Locatelli fighting for starting berths this season.

While the returning manager’s possession structure remains ambiguous, it’s clear that Bentancur will not be continuing as the side’s regista.

Last season, Allegri noted Bentancur’s deficiencies in this role while on punditry duty: “In my opinion, Bentancur cannot play in front of the defence. He can play a match, but not more. Rodrigo is very good, but in front of the defence he has a playing time of 1-3 [seconds]: he stops, looks and then passes,” he said (via Il Bianconero).

In his first pre-season contest against Barcelona on Sunday, Allegri utilised Bentancur as a box-to-box ahead of regista Ramsey. The Uruguayan had little responsibility in the build-up phase and was tasked with shifting upfield to receive between the lines and make the odd penetrating run in-behind. He was Juve’s best performer on the night, producing two standout sequences in the first half that displayed his robustness, dynamism and ability in transition.

The performance stands Bentancur in good stead for the upcoming campaign.

Nevertheless, you feel that the Uruguayan could be a particular beneficiary of Locatelli’s proposed arrival. The Italian’s a bona fide ball-progressor who, thanks to former Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi, is more than comfortable playing in the face of pressure in the first phase and is adept at penetrating opposition lines. No player notched more passes into the final third than Locatelli (289) last season.

The Italian maestro is of the metronomic ilk and his skill set will allow Bentancur to perform a role that suits his athletic, industrious profile. While his form under Sarri suggested the Uruguayan could blossom into a prototypical number six, his struggles under Pirlo combined with Allegri’s arrival have surely shunned such an idea from perpetuating. Bentancur’s a menacing ball-winner at heart and alongside the progressive, technically proficient Locatelli, the pair could form an optimally-balanced yin and yang relationship – whether in a double pivot or midfield three.

Nevertheless, with competition rife, Bentancur has to build on the momentum he cultivated on Sunday night. Otherwise, Allegri will be swift to thrust the Uruguayan to the periphery should his 2020/21 iteration manifest with alternate options waiting in the wings.