It has certainly been a while since I last felt inspired enough to pour some energy and spill virtual ink for the bianconeri cause. The reasons for this are mainly obvious, with no need for me to explain in great and painful detail my disillusionment with the club. Many feel the same. The less obvious non football related reasons for the lack of my trademark acerbic ramblings are more personal and need no promotion. Suffice to say, I suddenly find a candle light flicker in a dark, long and cold wintry gale of horror, reigniting for Juve…
It is this man who represents my newfound hope.
Not since 2018 have we had a proven expert in our pivotal SD role. When Beppe Marotta was kicked out the club, replaced by his understudy Paratici, Ronaldo came in and the march towards our steady journey of ruin began. I hope we have reached the worst of this doom laden escapade of mismanagement at the highest levels. With not a fresh, clean slate, but slowly, surely, the listing ship back upright and aimed for calmer waters…
My reservations of the new BoD leadership and Allegri remain. Yet finally, almost unexpectedly, we have placed in a key position a man whose record in the game is demonstrably excellent. I might go so far as to call the SD role, at least at Juve, and for many italian sides, the most important of them all. For they seem to have sway over the whole sporting project – perhaps including the manager and style of our on field aspirations – with a strong focus on long term planning and construction of the senior first team squad.
Giuntoli was a major guiding and developmental element in producing the Napoli sides of the last 8 years, many iterations of which, most notably the most recent, providing the most exciting entertainment of calcio. Free flowing, attacking football has been their ethos. Was this simply the only way Napoli can ever play, with their storied history of Maradona and the city itself – I can confirm from personal experience – an explosive, chaotic, berserk beast with a pulse constantly on the rise, a pounding heartbeat, a city of romance, love, passion, carnage where every moment can feel like an explosion. Or was this by design?
I like to believe that this high octane, often beautiful, ever played on the front foot sporting idealism is something that our new SD will bring to his new club. How this will mix with the ultra pragtmatic methods of Max Allegri, I have no idea…in fact, so at odds do these themes seem, that this is the only reason as to why I still at least consider the possibility that we will not find our current manager completing his contract…Why bring in a man proven eminently capable of creating talented squads focused on attacking football, and expect him to repeat the success with a manager inertly driven to play attritional, defensive, pragmatic football? That would make no sense.
Giuntoli has forged a reputation for finding incredible talents at low prices. He has helped Napoli reach the top domestically, and become a widely admired force in Europe, on a budget of less than half of that which Juve have been regularly investing. The assumption is that with greater funds, and maybe stronger appeal – based on our historical not current position – over time, the long term Juve fan now our SD, will propel the club back to where we belong.
We must somewhat temper enthusiasm, for his job is not a simple one. He is not walking into a healthy club climate or situation. Quite the opposite. Inheriting a disfunctional, failing squad, a manager with much of the fanbase against him, ongoing legal issues off the field and financial horrors which now refuse to be ignored…the one Cristiano I am happy to find signed, faces a huge challenge.
So far, we only have the Weah move and retention of Rabiot to focus upon as done deals. How much of a role Giuntoli played in these moves I have no concrete idea, though assume it was zero, given he was still under contract at Napoli when the moves finalised and our extreme need as a club for transparent professionalism.
Timothy is young, versatile and some may think cheap at 12m. However, he has not managed to become a regular first XI player at Lille. Quite often a sub. Which to ponder makes the move seem more of a pricy gamble, both for Juve and the player. Who was scouting him? Who made the decision to sign him? Manna? In collusion with Max? Reports from those following the french league suggest Weah is more useful as a RB, capable of supporting the attack and defending the rearguard, yet lacking any certain high level potential.
The other gallic connection who has (re)joined the side is far more established. Yet Rabiot’s return fails to inspire. It smacks more of muddled desperation than any part of a clear long term plan for the squad, for he will remain for just one season then we will find ourselves in the same situation again. Admittedly, he was one of the very few decent performers of our last miserable campaign, though this was in stark contrast to the three previous where he proved inconsistent, just very highly paid.
I can understand that Weah was seen by whoever decided the move, as a roll of the dice potential replacement for Cuadrado. With Monsieur Adrien arguably the best of the bunch from last year offering a sense of continuity and avoiding the need to spend even more money on signing someone in his place.
A sense of concern remains, perhaps just not now prevails. In recent weeks I have seen so many rumours of basically the whole squad for sale. Which may be true, as my impression of the recovery effort put in place by Elkann and his advisors – in the shape of Calvo, Scanavino, Ferrero and their underlings – was that they were given a three fold list of demands-
- Turn the club inside out auditing wise, get the right people in the right roles for this and hold tight through the legal challenges
- Cut costs. Focus on reducing the massively inflated wage bill.
- Relaunch the image of the club, drawing a clear line over what has been and what will now come.
Note that there was no inkling on my part, other than perhaps with the third aim, of the sporting project; meaning the squad and our focus for football. Other priorities are paramount. Still…with the signing of Giuntoli, I am regaining the belief that the club do understand the need to bring in high level football people, just doing this carefully, not rushed.
We could certainly be helped with another experienced football chap in the BoD, maybe Del Piero or Buffon. This would continue the repair job of the fractured bond between fans and the club.
Back to the rumours…
Chiesa may leave, Dusan may leave, Bremer may leave. The three strongest players in the squad. All on big wages, all with high transfer value. I guess Giuntoli needs funds to play with, and also spaces to fill for those he can try bring to the club. Had we enjoyed a solid season I would be more aghast at the idea of selling our most prized assets, but this is not the case. We were generally woeful. A clear out is needed, and we have more than those star players to move on, for there are others on high wages who are much harder to clear out.
Arthur will be very tough to move on at anything other than a major loss. Zakaria may well have some suitors, and bring in some much needed lucre. McKennie appears harder to ship away absent of a return to sender clause. Big Leo is a creaking ship, unlikely to get anywhere near the same money elsewhere.
Then there is Alex Sandro, who basically retired two years back and now offers not much more than if he was playing beach football on the sand in Rio…
Will be brief, with my own hitlist for our new SD>
- We desperately need massive upgrades at FB. Cambaiso and Weah are interesting, but we need proven quality.
- We own Locatelli, Fagioli, Rovella, Miretti. They could be the future of La Nazionale and the future of Juve. Rovella especially has looked superb, Fagioli also, with Miretti poorly managed by Max (have a chat with him on this, if no set role for the lad loan him out to a club where he can prosper but do NOT lose him). I have followed enough of him to lean towards believing he is special. Do not sell off the most promising young talents of the squad.
- Use whatever connections and tactics you need to show the door and exile Sandro, De Sciglio, Bonucci, Arthur, McKennie.
- Make Max and the club realise this focus on attritional, lifeless, defensive, reserved, pragmatic football must be changed. It will take time, but the direction at least can be altered swiftly. The modern game is attacking. We must all work together to improve the football product on show, win back the fans, win new fans, by showing some modern appreciation of building towards exciting football.
- We need an experienced CB to replace Leo, whilst Gatti continues to learn his trade at the higher levels.
- Persuade Pogba to leave. He is a mega pricy luxury former footballer.
- Try to move Tek elsewhere, another high earner and Perin may well prove just as good, maybe even superior, yes will need to then bring in another backup as Pinsoglio is basically a mascot/cheerleader, but you surely have some gems in your notebooks.
- Work out what to do with Kean, and if Max fancies him as a ‘squad’ player, find him a new club, get whatever money you can. You will know, if looking statstically, he was our most productive forward last term, even playing a bit part role. Give him a decent crack of the whip or sell him/ loan him.
- Encourage Ferrero, Calvo, Scanavino, to bring in another director with connections to the club and lengthy experience in our former glory e.g. Del Piero, Buffon.
- Sort out the future of Dusan, Chiesa, Bremer as quickly as possible. For Max (or any coach) to have a successful pre-season, he must be given his settled squad with enough time to work on cohesion and tactics.
We are joined in passion for this shared cause, from which many have close to turned away, but have heart comrades, we are not yet finished and…there are flickers of hope for a brighter future abounding.
Selah
TGP
(find me on twitter at your peril https://twitter.com/thegutterpoet )
