In the summer, Leonardo Bonucci’s time at Juventus reached its conclusion in a rather unclimactic fashion.
The veteran defender was stripped of the captaincy and left out of the squad. This eventually forced his transfer to Union Berlin where he and his teammates are enduring an abysmal campaign.
The summer also saw the departure of Juan Cuadrado after eight memorable years in Turin. The Colombian joined arch-rivals Inter on a free transfer.
Moreover, World Cup winners Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes ended their stint at Contanissa following a solitary campaign.
But according to Tuttosport via JuventusNews24, the departures of the so-called “senators” only strengthened the chemistry in the locker room and on the pitch.
As the Turin-based newspaper explains, Max Allegri now has a younger squad at his disposal, one with a more malleable ego.
In the current squad, no individual is above the group. Therefore, the emphasis is now on the “We” rather the “I”, as the source puts it.
Juve FC say
Those “senators” mentioned above were clearly a far cry from the men who had their voices heard in the locker room in previous years, the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli.
Even Bonucci with his temperamental approach proved ill-suited to the captain’s role at times. On the other hand, Di Maria is certainly a great professional, but we all remember how he was hesitant to join the club in the first place.
Therefore, the atmosphere at the club is probably calmer now with cooler heads like Danilo, Adrien Rabiot and Wojciech Szczesny assuming leadership roles.
