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6 steps to rebuilding Juventus – Part 1

By James Cormack

STADIO RENATO DALL'ARA, BOLOGNA, ITALY - 2021/12/18: Massimiliano Allegri, head coach of Juventus FC, looks on prior to the Serie A football match between Bologna FC and Juventus FC. Juventus FC won 2-0 over Bologna FC. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
STADIO RENATO DALL'ARA, BOLOGNA, ITALY - 2021/12/18: Massimiliano Allegri, head coach of Juventus FC, looks on prior to the Serie A football match between Bologna FC and Juventus FC. Juventus FC won 2-0 over Bologna FC. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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2. Trust & maintain the current transfer policy

Manuel Locatelli was Juventus’ showpiece signing in 2021 and his arrival continued the recent trend of signing younger players with sky-high potential. (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
Manuel Locatelli was Juventus’ showpiece signing in 2021 and his arrival continued the recent trend of signing younger players with sky-high potential. (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images) /

If Cristiano Ronaldo was the synthetic CDO in Juventus’ eventual collapse, then the club’s free-agent fetish was the insufficient regulation of the SEC (no, I will never stop the 2008 economic crash comparisons).

Between 2011 and 2019, Juventus’ transfer ‘policy’ centred around purchasing the finished and perhaps peaking product. In the short term, it perpetuated their success with Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Sami Khedira and Dani Alves being notable free agent success stories.

Ronaldo (£100m), Gonzalo Higuain (£80m) and Blaise Matuid (£30m) also arrived towards the end of Allegri’s first reign to thrust Juventus to their ultimate goal: the Champions League. But two finals in 2015 and 2017 was as close as they’d get before an ageing squad was beaten by an Ajax side that was, on average, eight years younger than the Bianconeri.

By the time Maurizio Sarri arrived in 2019, Juventus boasted the third-oldest squad in Serie A (28.4 average age) and this ignited a change. In 2019/20, youngsters Matthijs de Ligt (19), Merih Demiral (21) and Dejan Kulusevski (19) were signed and the average age was reduced to 27 for the 2020/21 campaign.

The likes of Federico Chiesa (22), Arthur (24), Weston McKennie (22) and Nicolo Rovella (19) complemented Juve’s change in tack and the club continued their pursuit of youth ahead of the 2021/22 campaign. Massimiliano Allegri’s current squad boasts an average age of 26.7 – the 11th youngest in the division.

Thus, progress has been made in making the Bianconeri younger and despite the club’s struggles since the alteration in policy, it’s imperative that they stick with it. They’ll reap the rewards in time with their current young core peaking simultaneously.

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