With Juventus’ season on the horizon, we have been taking a deep dive into the different positions on the squad and how they should fair going into the 2023-2024 season.
Juventus is in an interesting position this year. They won’t be participating in any European competitions and will only have domestic games to play. That being said, this should be seen as a positive for the team.
It seemed like the team struggled at times last year with the weight of the European schedule. This led to Juve losing a lot of games domestically that they should have been able to win. Without that schedule rigor, the team has no real excuse not to be ultra-competitive in the race for the Scudetto.
Of course, there are a lot of things that need to happen this year to make that the case. They will need positive, year-long, contributions from every position on the field. The good news for the club is that the team looks pretty strong on paper. The midfield, specifically, looks like it is in line to have a strong season with a number of positive preseason performances.
Juve didn’t bring in a lot of talent in the midfield this summer which is actually a good thing.
There doesn’t need to be an awkward “gel” period for this group since they already have a year under their belts working together. This is actually a huge positive for the group.
Now, let’s take a deeper dive into some of the players on this midfield. We aren’t going to cover all of them in this piece but will focus on the players likely to make an impact throughout the year. All stats in this piece are courtesy of FBref.com.
This is a name that Juventus fans know well.
Signed last year in a major return to Turin, Pogba was supposed to be the anchor for a Juventus midfield that could compete for the Champions League title and the Serie A crown. Unfortunately for both sides, none of those things materialized. Instead, Pogba ended up injured at the start of the season and only made a few appearances throughout the year.
Every world football fan knows that Pogba has the talent to play the game well. He was a key component of the French World Cup-winning squad in 2018. He has also shown that he can play at a high level no matter what league he is playing in. If he can stay healthy, he should be an every-match type of player.
Given that Juventus will not be participating in European competition, this is a great season for Pogba to get back into the swing of things health-wise. There is no doubt that when he is on the pitch he can positively impact a game. He just needs to do whatever is possible to actually see the field this season. Otherwise, Juventus will need to cut their losses and move on from him to bring in a player that actually…well…plays.
Weston McKennie has brought out some interesting reactions from the fans over the last few seasons. He was a consistent staple in the squad but fell out of favor with manager Max Allegri. Last season, he was eventually shipped out on a loan to a Leeds United team that did not choose to bring him back permanently.
It’s tough to say exactly what will happen with McKennie this season. When he’s on the pitch for the United States, Mckennie is a strong midfielder who does well getting into the box offensively. He has shown some of that promise during his time at Juventus but not nearly consistently enough.
McKennie also had a very strong preseason. He looked to be finding his form with the club and put together enough quality performances to convince Allegri that there might be a place for him on the roster after all.
Overall, McKennie is a good player for this club that can come off the bench if need be and bring some attacking prowess. He might not be the most technically gifted and he might take some time off during matches, but he has the potential to be a quality player in a midfield that has talent.
Locatelli, on the other hand, will probably see a lot of the pitch. After an initial season where he struggled to gel with the midfield, Locatelli really started to come along last year. It’s safe to say that outside of Adrien Rabiot, who will get his time to shine later, he was one of the more consistent players on the pitch.
Locatelli is a good playmaking midfielder. He does a good job distributing the ball in the regista role and contributes well defensively. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get most of the Serie A starts unless he picks up an injury.
Locatelli has the making of being a strong foundational piece for this club and should get as many minutes as possible to continue to grow in his game.
Nicolo Fagioli was a bit of a revelation in the midfield last season.
Being called upon after injuries took hold in the middle of the pitch, Fagioli stepped in well and proved that he is more than capable of giving Allegri top-quality minutes. Fagioli is a strong midfield presence with good vision and the flexibility to play all over the midfield. He is certainly not a player who should be darting up the sidelines. But, he is more than capable of playing as a distributing playmaker around more attacking and defensive-minded mids.
In terms of expectations, it’s safe to say that Juve fans and the coaching staff would love to see him take another positive step in terms of his growth.
Fabio Miretti is another young and promising midfielder for Juve. At 20 years old, he represents the future of the position for the club. However, the future might actually be in the future and there is still a possibility that Juve loans him out this year.
It seems like Miretti may still be a year away from actively participating in the first team. Yet, he should still get quality minutes on another team so he can be ready when his time comes for Juventus.
Filip Kostic should also look to build on a solid season for the Bianconeri.
He joined Juventus in the summer of 2022 as the team looked to add speed to the outside mid position. Luckily for Juventus, that’s exactly what he did. Unfortunately for Juventus, that’s really his only strength.
Kostic isn’t known for cutting inside effectively like his wing counterpart Federico Chiesa. He’s much more of an outside guy who tries to drive the ball into the center of the pitch. He’s not necessarily a goal-scoring player, but it’s possible for him to get a few over the course of the year.
On the outside, his speed can really push a defense and his desire to cross into the box for running forwards is effective when the strikers are actually finishing their shots. He finished the year with 3 goals and 8 assists which are solid, but less than spectacular numbers. Of course, some of that could be on players like Dusan Vlahovic who struggled in the box last season. Kostic should be able to duplicate those numbers.
If Juve’s attacking crew can be more consistent in the box, Kostic should be able to duplicate his numbers from last season, if not exceed them.
Juve is lucky to have Adrien Rabiot back for another season.
After a somewhat uneven career with the Bianconeri, he seemed to figure things out last year. There was a lot of talk that Rabiot would leave Turin this summer but he ended up renewing his contract and will have at least one more year in black and white. That is incredible for Juventus as he was their most consistent player last year.
Rabiot ended up scoring 8 goals and setting up 4 assists in 32 matches for Juventus in Serie A last season. That was, by far, his strongest season in Turin and, as mentioned before, he looked like the midfielder he was always expected to be.
He was dominant in possession and great at moving the ball up the pitch. Rabiot was extremely helpful in the opponent’s box and did a great job getting back on defense. He really developed into a true box-to-box midfielder last season.
He’s also only 28 years old which means that he could still have a couple of strong years left.
There is, of course, a small cause for hesitation going into this year though. Is it possible for him to duplicate that performance? He will be vying again for another big payday throughout the year, so there is enough on the table for him to have another good year. Yet, over his time in Turin, he has been inconsistent, so it’s hard to say which version of Rabiot the team is going to get.
If they get the version from last year, this midfield is going to be one of the best in Italy.