Despite the bold predictions of a first place finish by a certain Ambitious Effort contributor that may or may not have been myself, Juventus had an extremely disappointing season last year, finishing in seventh place with a miserable 55 points. With their poor performance, they find themselves in the Europa instead of the Champions League, and have few experts predicting them to be much of a threat to the scudetto this season. While I agree with the assumption that they won't win it all, I believe that the Bianconeri will be much improved this season, as I think they have made the best off-season moves in the Transfer window. Before discussing the new arrivals for Juve, I'll cover the departures.
Fabio Cannavaro-Al-Ahli: The legendary center back is now way past his prime, leading to his departure to the Middle East for continued riches. While Juve fans no doubt appreciate all that he has done for the squad over the years, no one is mad he is leaving this time, unlike when he ditched the team in '06 after the scandal which saw the team relegated to Serie B.
Sebastian Giovinco-Parma: This is the one move that left me shaking my head. I am one of the atomic ant's biggest fans, and it was always frustrating to see him riding the pine when he always seemed to bring much needed enthusiasm, skill and speed to Juve's attack. But management was clearly disappointed with his development, selling him to Parma, where he should be able to flourish with the lessened competition for places in the starting 11.
Cristian Poulsen-Liverpool: The midfielder had a sisspaoint and forgetbale spell in Turin, and does not merit further discussion.
Arrivals: Luigi Del Neri-Sampdoria: With their disappointing finish last season, Juve where in the market fora news manager, and they found a winner in Del Neri, who led Sampdoria to a top four finish last season. If he can continue his success at a big club like Juventus, their fans may not have to wait long for a return to the glory days of the mid 2000's
Simone Pepe-Udinese: The Italian international winger was loaned to Juve with an option to buy. In my mind, they could have simply put Giovinco into the wing position that Pepe will surely occupy, but if they play a 4-4-2 as favored by Del Neri, Pepe is capable of tracking back consistently to help the defense.
Marco Storari-AC Milan: With Gianluigi Buffon injured to start the season, Storari will be the man between the posts. This was a great buy, as he made spectacular saves for Milan in every game I saw him play. Having a legit backup is important for Juve, as Buffon seems to miss more and more matches with each passing year.
Marco Motta-Roma: Another great buy sees Juve acquire the best young Italian right back. Roma was apparently satisfied with Marco Cassetti at the posistion, allowing Motta to move to Turin, where he will no doubt help to shore up a position that has been weak for Juve recently.
Leonardo Bonucci-Bari: Yet again Juve strike gold as they get the best upcoming defender in Italy. Bonucci helped Bari have one of the leagues best defenses last season, and at 23 he should be able to partner Giorgio Chiellini in defense for another decade, a depressing thought for any Serie A attacker.
Milos Krasic-CSKA Moscow: This recent buy did not come cheap, with Juve spending 15 million Euros on the winger, albeit in installments over the years. I was not impressed with the Serb during the World Cup, but then again his whole team was disappointing, so perhaps I'll withhold judgment until I see how he is used and adjusts to a new league.
Alberto Aquilani-Liverpool: It's official folks, Aquilani's short stint in England has already ended in failure as he was loaned to Juve today with an option to buy at the end of the season for 15 million euros.
Considering that Liverpool bought him for 20 only a year ago as the man to replace Xabi Alonso, the loan move shows both how bad of a move Liverpool made and how poor and perpetually injured Aquilani was. Admittedly, I am a huge Aquilani fan as he was always around for some thunderbolt strikes when I watched AS Roma matches at the Olimpico two years ago. Seriously watch this video. He's the most under-appreciated striker of a football in the world. However, he will only be a success with Liverpool if he can stay healthy for a consistent amount of time, something that he has always had trouble doing. Either way, Juve just got an extremely talented midfielder, for the price of on the house this season. Don't be surprised when it's midseason and everybody is talking about the resurgence of the Old Lady of Italian Calcio. It'll have been because of all the work their front office has put in this summer.
With so many new arrivals in Torino, it will be interesting to see how the chemistry of the team is affected. On second thought, the team chemistry was terrible last year, so there is nowhere for the team to go but up. The new signings were all smart buys, but I thought the same thing last year about Deigo and Felipe Melo, and we all know how that worked out. All things considered, I'm predicting a third place finish for Juve, as I don't think a strikeforce of Amauri, David Trezeguet and the ancient magician Alessandro Del Piero will be good or healthy enough for them to win the Scudetto.
And to end with, here is the best Juventus video I could find with only one minute of research. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment