Cast your minds back to 2006 and the quarter finals of the Champions League - Juventus were under the management of Don Fabio and headed to Highbury for the first leg with players like Emerson, Vieira, Thuram, Cannavaro and Zebina in the squad. Arsenal, having lost Vieira the summer previous, were putting their faith in a young Spaniard in the hopes that he could contain his old tutor and run the midfield for them . The rest is history - Arsenal dominated the match from early on scoring two great goals and Wenger's faith in his young talents paid off. Juventus, with all their age and experience, simply collapsed - Mauro Camoranesi and Jonathan Zebina earned red cards, Vieira and Emerson looked like lost children while Trezeguet and Ibrahimovic created no attacking threat whatsoever.

Fast forward 3 years and the story is much the same - Juventus are out of the Champions League at the group stage, having played a team largely composed of 'old heads' but devoid of youth and talent. Lets not forget, this is the same Juventus that's boasts the best youth set-up in Italy and yet many of these players will probably never get the call to play for the first team.

With the appointment of Ciro Ferrara, former Juventus youth coach, many believed it would be the start of a new era at Juventus - the seldom used Sebastian Giovinco would finally get a starting spot, along with talents like Ciro Immobile, Luca Marrone, Yago Falque and Albin Ekdal. The signs were good - Juventus invested in Diego and Melo, both of whom impressed in the early part of the season. When results turned against them, Ferrara opted to play 3 attacking midfielder's behind a single forward with Giovinco finally getting a spot on the wide left - the results were devastating but with the imminent return of Alex Del Piero, Ferrara switched back to 4-3-1-2, then finally 4-4-2 in an effort to accommodate his old team mate. What of Giovinco ? He's been resigned back to the bench.

Despite Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio forcing their way into the first team, the Juventus side of today is still largely comprised of players pushing 30 and beyond - Del Piero, Cannavaro, Grygera, Poulsen, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Amauri, Legrottaglie, Grosso, Brazzo, Zebina - These players are the backbone of the side, yet all are in the twilight of their careers.

In the midst of the ongoing speculation about Ciro Ferrara's future, Juventus have been hit an injury crisis with several players out. It's taken the termination of loan deals for Juventus to bolster their ranks with youth players as they enter the second part of the season. Players that were initially farmed out to clubs like Genoa and Siena in co-ownership deals. For some, like Davide Lanzafame, the idea of returning to Turin, after moving to Palermo, Bari and now Parma, is not even being entertained. Why move back to Juventus to sit on a bench ? And therein lies the problem - Will Juventus finally take the opportunity to put faith in their youth products ?