Juventus sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli says he felt a sense of responsibility to get the club back to winning as soon as he arrived at the club. The Bianconeri boss was among the busiest in Europe this summer, overseeing a massive overhaul of the club, which included replacing the coach, reducing player salaries and signing a considerably younger set of players. Speaking with Corriere della Sera, Giuntoli talked through his time at the club to date, explaining why so much change was needed, and how he chose to handle it:
Juve have a budget that’s in the red but have done a lot of shopping this summer: what’s the trick?
“There isn’t one. You just have to do the math, and keep in mind the five-year perspective. Before you could have a player, I’ll give an example, who earned thirteen million euros gross, now you have one that you paid 10 million but whose salary weighs less than a fifth: in the end, between salary and amortization, you save over 30 million euros. And so on, for many operations done this year.”
Moral?
“There is no Giuntoli method: we had to lower the wage bill and the average age of the squad. And we did it.”
To go in which direction?
“To build our path brick by brick, we are among the youngest teams in the league and we have an important project. I am very optimistic and also happy with how this season has started.”
Well, isn’t the house motto “winning is the only thing that matters”?
“Of course, Juve is a club that must win. It’s not the only thing, but the most important one. We must maintain financial balance and high competitiveness to bring the club back where it deserves. There’s the result, but also the way in which you get there. You have to start from performances, that’s where the difference lies.”
Don’t you feel the pressure?
“Here there’s more of it. But rather than pressure I would talk about a sense of responsibility. This is what I felt as soon as I arrived. The awareness of being in a club that has made history, and of having on my shoulders the weight of an important mission. I don’t like to let my emotions show through, even pressure is something I feel inside, outside lucidity prevails, the serenity of the manager who must always make decisions with his head and never with his gut. Perhaps this is the quality I recognize in myself: serenity in any situation.”
What’s it like entering the J-museum?
“It moves me, always. I think of my dad, I realize where I am and images of the Juve I dreamed of as a child pass through my mind.”
So, who was your idol?
“Zoff, Cabrini, Scirea… Causio, who was a champion. And Furino, from my era as a fan.”
To choose a player, instinct or big data?
“Numbers represent a player’s history, but I need to feel the emotion, to see him and understand what he transmits to me. And it’s an essential evaluation to which you associate all the data you want, but without the sentiment I don’t have the complete picture of the situation. But there’s always a margin of risk when you take a player.”
Lost bets?
“Of course, they happen.”
Most complicated purchase?
“Maybe Victor (Osimhen, ed.). It took me four months to bring him to Napoli.”
And now he’s no longer there.
“He should have perhaps been sold earlier, but Aurelio (De Laurentiis, ed.) is an intelligent and astute entrepreneur. I owe him a lot, I love him.”
Thiago Motta was courted for a long time, how did you convince him?
“It’s evident that with Bologna he had done so well that we weren’t the only ones with eyes on him, we were aware of it and we played our cards, evidently fully embracing his football project.”
Did you have a plan B?
“I won’t say the name, but it’s a foreign coach who was and still is coaching in Europe.”
A regret?
“Who doesn’t have any? We had the need to do a good market and put the accounts in order. The goal was to make a young team, but with a history that represented the base.”
One name: Calafiori.
“It’s a regret for all Italian football, not for Juventus. We must question ourselves about not having had the strength to keep a player of his caliber in Italy. All the big teams signed a defender, not him.”
Vlahovic substituted at halftime: as a fan first and manager after, what did you feel?
“In Thiago’s football it happens, nothing special.”
Is the renewal a problem?
“No, a player like him with still important prospects can never be a problem, the renewal is a goal, we will do it. A player who is worth a lot and earns a lot for us represents an asset.”
Who wins the championship?
“Too early to say, but Inter and Napoli are the favorites. History says it, the most experienced team always wins. Inter is, Napoli for the strategy change it has made has become so.”
And Juve?
“We have changed a lot, and when you do that you always risk. We have completely modified the way of thinking about football, started from scratch. We don’t know yet what we can do, we are discovering ourselves. Now there’s also the curiosity to understand, see what we do.”
Chiesa remained out for a while, to then be sold: how do you manage situations like this?
“With clarity and simplicity, with the player and his entourage we have always been very honest, together we all sought the best solution for the player, who is very strong and we wish him all the best possible.”
McKennie was also on the transfer list.
“No, he had a renewal problem, but he was never out of the project.”
What’s special about Koopmeiners?
“This too was a difficult negotiation. He’s special in his plays, in his technique. A player with his head up, he always knows where the ball is, knows who to give it to. He’s a tough one.”
And why is Thiago unique?
“He has had a great impact within Juve. Gentle, nice manners, with everyone. He is a predestined one, very empathetic with the team. He has great personality. He gives everything, lives for this job.”
How many lies do you tell?
“I don’t tell lies, I omit. But in any case, they are white lies. I tell them, but I also suffer them. When a player has already decided to go elsewhere and hides it, and I realize it, I pretend to believe what he says. I understand it.”
You meet Galliani for Di Gregorio and then say you had met for something else.
“I swear, we had met for something else. Also!”
The relationship with Allegri?
“I’m sorry, I don’t talk about this.”
Result or beautiful play?
“I say balance and control of the game, that’s what I like about this Juve. The strong team must know how to do everything.”
Have you ever made a decision just for money?
“For goodness sake, I make myself respected in negotiations, but I don’t think about it as a material thing, there are other aspects that weigh in choices. I’m generous, in fact when I negotiate a player and I realize that he only has that in mind, I remain wary.”
If you hadn’t become a sports director?
“I lived above a bar, and I miss the sports bar: those of the past, with football and chatter. Maybe I would have opened one”
