Juventus are reportedly looking to bring in a new sporting director this summer and have been linked with Napoli’s Cristiano Giuntoli and Milan’s Frederic Massara. The Bianconeri are still in a reorginisation phase following the mass resignation of their previous board of directors and the ongoing Prisma investigation, which is expected to begin it’s preliminary hearing next month.
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that the club are also in the hunt for a new sporting director and are waiting to see what kind of season awaits them next year. The Bianconeri have seen their 15-point penalty temporarily revoked, meaning they’re up to third in the Serie A table for the moment, however another case may yet have an implication on their qualification for Champions League football next season.
Gazzetta state that Max Allegri is now the reference point for ‘sports area’ of the club, as indicated by John Elkann at the changing of the guard in the presidency. Francesco Calvo is the main managerial support of the team and coach, while Gianluca Pessotto, who is responsible for all Juventus youth teams, has also been working overtime to do some representative work for the first team. Federico Cherubini’s presence, because of his ban from activities, is constant but not entirely operational: keeping up relations with the prosecutors, at least in these recent months, is Giovanni Manna, head of Next Gen and reporting directly to the newly appointed CEO Maurizio Scanavino
There’s a suggestion that Manna could be promoted to the sporting director role, to work alongside Max Allegri at Continassa, and while that can’t be ruled out, Juventus executives are thinking of a trusted profile to whom they can entrust a broader management of the new sports area.
Among the main candidates are Frederic Massara (backed by Allegri himself, but for now linked to Milan and not under discussion there) or Andrea Berta (who would return to Italy only for an ambitious and long-term project, after his years at Atletico Madrid).
The rumours around Cristiano Giuntoli have been there for some time: even on this front, however, the common dream may not coincide on the timing, considering that the Napoli’s sporting directors contract will expire in 2024 and at the moment, he is strongly focused on the Scudetto race of Spalletti’s team. Gazzetta suggest that his presence in Turin this weekend, when Napoli face Juve, could create an opportunity for contacts between the two parties.
No less strong (and credible) is the candidacy of Giovanni Rossi, currently at Sassuolo, who is already familiar with Juve for having served in the past as head of Juventus’ youth sector. In his time with the Neroverdi, he has implemented a project very similar to the one that the new Juventus manager should develop. Linked to this idea are the rumours that Juve would like Sassuolo director Giovanni Carnevali at the club with a more political and less on-the-field role, just like he has had at Sassuolo in these recent years.
