Juventus: The counterattack comes with Pogba, Di Maria, three buys and seven ‘breaks’

Juventus will feature Paul Pogba and Angel Di Maria in their squad for the new season. His problem in recent years hasn’t been the players he signed as free agents. Andrea Pirlo, Dani Alves, Emre Can, Kingsley Coman, Sami Khedira and many more have contributed, some more, some less, and at a low cost. The problem is her choices when she decides to spend money.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Matthias de Ligt cost hundreds of millions but they didn’t last long in Turin, even if they bid. Other players like Douglas Costa or Marco Piazza cost a lot and didn’t bid.

Andrea Agnelli has been making it clear for years that the “Bianconeri” with their current status on the international arena cannot keep up financially with the other super clubs and are forced to move more prudently on the market. In the current transfer window, however, it’s preparing to fill its coffers, either by offloading “weights” or losing players it can’t keep.

The only cost is the “transfer” from Chiesa

Strange as it may seem, this summer Juventus paid to buy a player they can no longer play after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture.

The reason for Federico Chiesa, who played for the “Bianconeri” in the form of a two-year loan from Fiorentina. In the summer of 2022, the two teams had agreed on a mandatory purchase clause that amounted to 40,000,000 euros.

Di Maria and Pogba will be the next two signings of the season but they won’t cost anything, meaning Juventus have only paid for one player so far.

The three goals for the purchase

This will not continue. The club’s managers are looking to make at least three more signings which means they will be spending money. Most of them are expected to go to Nikolos Zaniolo. The Roma striker has been in the spotlight for some time, with the two clubs having started negotiations working towards an agreement by the day.

The Giallorossi are asking around 60,000,000 in total for the player’s concession in any form (e.g. Chiesa recipe) and the Bianconeri are currently giving up to 50,000,000. Nevertheless, the gap is likely to close in the coming days and both teams will complete the transfer.

A lot of efforts are being made to find a replacement for Dusan Vlahovic. Marko Arnautovic is Juventus’ first target as Bologna… resist. Alternatively, Alvaro Morata, who is expendable for Atlético but is still under contract until 2024, is not entirely out of the squad.

Finally, another big transfer target is Kalidou Koulibaly. The Napoli centre-back feels the time is right for a change of scenery after eight years in southern Italy and Juventus have already spoken to their agent Fali Ramadani to close the gap on the always hostile Partenopei boss Aurelio di Laurentis.

The De Licht case

Juventus have lost two centre-backs, Giorgio Chiellini and Mehdi Demiral, but they could lose one more, the most important of them all. De Ligt was acquired in the summer of 2019 for 75,000,000 and another 10,500,000 as a bonus but three years later he has requested a transfer and Juventus management accepted the request.

There are several applicants, most notably Chelsea. The Italians are waiting for an offer that can reach up to 110,000,000 with bonuses, the English seem ready to give around 80,000,000. Negotiations between the two sides will continue unless Bayern make a comeback.

The 22-year-old Dutchman has reportedly reached an agreement with Bayern but they are preparing to put down an offer of just 60,000,000. In the event that Bayern raise their offer a bit, they tend to make the footballer their own.

The players who left

De Ligt by the end of the transfer window, everything points to his being included in the list of players to leave Juventus this year. Demiral locked in at Atalanta for 20,000,000 and Rolando Madragora did the same at Fiorentina for 8,200,000.

Chiellini landed as a free agent in Los Angeles and Douglas Costa will be his rival in the City of Angels after also signing for Galaxy as a free agent. Paulo Dybala, who is expected to sign from Inter on a free transfer, is also in the past, while Federico Bernardeschi’s contract has not been renewed either.

There were also sales from the second group with notable earnings. Giacomo Brioni went to New England Revolution for 3,450,000, Pietro Beruato to Pisa for 2,100,000 and Franco Israel to Sporting Lisbon for 650,000. Cremonese took Lukas Tzanimakia on loan, but also under obligation to buy for 3,000,000. From there, Palermo and Cagliari battle it out for Matteo Brunori, whose asking price is around 5,000,000.

The rest “refugees”

Besides De Ligt, there are a few other players who could leave, most of them with the club’s blessing, who they want to get rid of. Aaron Ramsey is such a case in point as he also has a hefty contract. In the second half of last season, he was loaned out to Rangers, who didn’t want to keep him. There are no clubs interested in the Welsh midfielder, so Juventus are discussing a deal termination. Currently the two sides are separated by 2,000,000.

Adrian Rabiot was taken on as a free agent like Ramsey, but his high salary combined with the low offer makes him a “burden”. The France midfielder has been linked with Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain (although he hasn’t left on the best of terms) but if he isn’t sold this summer Juventus are expected to offer him a new deal (which current expires in summer 2023).

Luca Pellegrini has won a few games this season but in no way justified the 22,000,000 spent on his acquisition over the past three years. The 23-year-old left-back has his eye on his former club Roma with the consequence that he could feature in the Gianiolo deal.

Artur cost 76,000,000 in 2020 but in fact Juventus took the Brazil international for Miralem Pjanic and 16,000,000. At no point did he justify this money (just like the Bosnian in Barcelona), with the consequence that this “marriage” is doomed to fail. The common wish of both is the “divorce”, but his high salary drives away all interested parties (Arsenal, Monaco). Neither team is willing to give Arthur a 6,000,000 contract and the 20,000,000 that Juventus are asking for.

Moises Kehn was loaned out for two years last summer but never won Massimiliano Allegri’s trust. The 22-year-old Italian will cost 7,000,000 if he completes his loan, with Juventus looking for a formula to break him at the lowest possible cost. In this case, the Bianconeri are looking for an ally in Everton who needs to find a buyer for their player (unless Frank Lampard wants him back).

Finally, the name Nicolo Fazioli is in the list of concession players. The 21-year-old central midfielder has a contract until 2023 and also has several suitors after last year’s successful loan to Cremonese.