Juventus may be the long-term powerhouse of Italian football, but it’s currently at a crossroads. It’s had a disappointing time in Serie A’s last season—currently set to finish somewhere between 3rd and 5th place. Not only that, but it was knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16. In short, Juventus are coming out of a relatively weak season for their standards.
The question now is how can they pick themselves up? Let’s dive into the types of signings which may help bolster the squad to once again champion over their largest rivals; AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Finding a Strong, Centre of Defence
One of the club’s largest challenges is defence. Juventus has long had some of the best defenders in Italian football; but they’re getting on now. Their lineup has been slowly diversifying, but it lacks pace and ingenuity.
In other words, Juventus could do with a new, young defence. Signing an athletic central defender who can compliment the rest of the defensive lineup would help to double-down their defensive prowess, filling in their current weak points.
Bolstering the Full-Back Positions
Staying in defence, but looking to the wings, Juventus still shows some room for improvements. While their defensive wingers are known for providing tonnes of attacking potential, Juventus again needs to think more about defence.
Their defenders often seem slightly too focused on offence, so adding an extra eye for defence on the wings would help to bolster the already shaky central defence, while opening up new defensive strategies for the entire squad.
Revitalizing the Central Midfield
While Juventus are great when the ball moves upfield, their squad desperately needs a great playmaker who can help dictate the tempo of the game, while simultaneously offering assistance to their shaky defence.
Alongside a great playmaker, Juventus could also benefit from new legs working box-to-box in the midfield; contributing to goals, assists and defensive play.
To see the value of a great player you can simply jump into FC24 and sub in a legendary midfielder like Pirlo. A simple change like this is night and day with a club like Juventus. To get Pirlo in your Ultimate Team you probably want an FC points top up!
Ultimately, if Juventus brought in new midfielders they may be able to experiment with new tactics both up and down field. Bolstering the entire team’s performance.
Securing Goals
Dusan Vlahović has been the key striker for Juventus for a while now. And while his play provides strong potential for attack, Juventus’ forwards are currently failing at their only job: scoring goals. This comes from both a lack of creativity and variety in the squad; with a number of players’ styles not aligning.
Because of this weak attacking potential, it’s certainly in Juventus’ interest to look into new attacking players. Notably, they have two options. They may want to invest in a winger who can provide quality crosses, playmaking around Vlahović in order to facilitate his goal-scoring potential. On the other hand, they may want to add another attacker to the roster to play alongside Vlahović, adding another offensive angle to get balls in nets.
Change isn’t the Only Answer
While it’s tempting to look at the transfer market for players to bring into the club to solve its apparent issues, it’s worth noting that fresh faces do not always bring the intended changes. New team members definitely do bring new skillsets to the squad, but they also shift the dynamic. Throwing off the chemistry—with the potential for things to get worse, or better.
Because of this, it’s worth thinking of other ways Juventus may push themselves to once again top the Italian league tables. These mainly boil down to managerial decisions; bolstering team chemistry, introducing new tactics and getting the players in a place where they are really ready to fight for the title—as we haven’t been seeing that energy from the squad in a while now.
New Squad?
Juventus have an uphill battle to get the one-up on their rivals in the Italian league. Both Inter Milan and AC Milan have been getting stronger over the last few seasons; bolstering their squads, the chemistry within the team and introducing new tactics which seem to be working. On the other hand, Juventus have been shaking. Making the challenge even harder to approach.
Whether the team decides to face these issues through transfers, new training or a combination of the two is an answer we will get by the start of the next season. But one thing is for sure: fans want to see Juventus switching something up to get their team dominating again.