Has Juve strengthened? On paper it should be. The exits of De Ligt and Bernardeschi were offset by the addition of Bremer and Di Maria. Then came Pogba: a lot of stuff. But to tell the truth there are still no substitutes for Chiellini, Dybala and Morata. Not small items. There are still 25 days to go until the end of the market and anything can happen. Ramsey is gone and no one will regret it. Arthur and Rabiot may also come out. Nor would they cause regrets. Gatti has arrived and it looks very good. And the young Fagioli and Rovella (with Miretti) seem good, who weren’t there last season. Will they stay? Who knows, Allegri asked for a left winger, a defender, a forward and a midfielder in the last corporate meeting. A lot, maybe too much. Allegri should take care to make the most of the Vlahovic and the Zakaria who arrived in January and who now should have gained the right experience to “really” immerse themselves in the Juventus shirt. Locatelli himself, after a season of learning, should be another player compared to the one seen last year. But it is on young people – in my opinion – that Allegro should focus. Let’s face it: if Ajax has invested in Lucca (Italian Serie B), Juventus has a duty to invest in its talents. A good coach can also be seen in how he knows how to make young people grow. Because if, in addition to those you have, you also get Paredes, Kostic, Milenkovic and Raspadori, then this is too easy: even a coach from Serie B would be able to win. Maybe even some journalists with a talent for the subject.
So let’s talk about a still incomplete Juve. And to form. The friendly match against Real said that the gap with the European Champions is wide. Allegri will have to work and a lot. And the fans will have to be patient. Too many fairy tales these days are told. Juve are certainly competitive, but they do not start as favorites to win the Scudetto.
We come to Pogba and his knee. Conservative therapy. And given that the therapy has had the approval of a luminary in the sector, it is to be hoped that within five weeks Pogba will be back on the field. But intellectual honesty requires saying that a decisive intervention would have protected Juve and the player from unforeseen future. You are not bad fans to tell the truth. Juve will have made their assessments, together with their medical staff and the player. But the retro-thought that Pogba (very human evaluation) has chosen the least invasive therapy to be able to participate in the World Cup with France is present. The hope is that everything goes well. For Pogba, for Juventus and for France.
A word about Mertens who (apparently) rejected the Juventus proposal for love of Napoli. Better than Naples, given that the president De Laurentiis did not want to comply with the economic requests of the player. It’s nice that Mertens feels “Neapolitan”. And it is in the “fan” logic that his eventual transfer to Juventus can be experienced by the Neapolitan fans as a “betrayal”. I have never understood the reasons for this “hatred” towards Juventus. Which dates back to well before the famous “lost” championship on the sofa in Florence. Well before Mazzarri, to say. Certainly something escapes me. Having said that, I believe that the fans should be happy if a former idol (now released) put (possibly) under contract with a club able to compete for prestigious goals, perhaps with the new team he were to sign the scudetto goal or the final of Champions. I am speaking in general, not necessarily of Juventus. But even if it were Juve, I don’t see why a player who has driven “Maradona” crazy for years should be considered a “traitor”. Maybe I have an idea of football that is not “current”. As a lover of good football, if it is not Juventus, I hope Mertens will go to a prestigious club. I have always admired the Belgian. For the technical and human qualities of him. He still deserves the best.
The friendly from Villar Perosa, returning to tradition, said that the tradition has been extensively updated (the presence of five-year-olds is also subject to a fee). But it was the usual crowd bath. People love to see Juve in Villar and they love to invade the pitch preventing the game from being regular in the minutes. Less and less time each time: at 47 the shop closed. Game that had no pretensions. Vernissage to show the “new”. Pogba was also present as a testimony to how much the Frenchman is linked to Juve and to the Juve world. Against the Under 23 of Brambilla, Fagioli playmaker tried: valuable ideas but there is work to be done. Unseen Rovella: due to lack of time. But a convincing conclusion from a distance. Super Di Maria, excellent Bremer, good agreement with Bonucci. There was no Dembele as an opponent and Alex Sandro made the figure of him. Locatelli is growing. Back in the condition appeared Vlahovic.
Last football note: it seems that Milan are closing for the interesting Under 19 of Vicenza, Tommaso Mancini: center forward, 1.90, mobile and technical. Here: this was a name not to be missed, but Juve is signing Beso, the twenty-year-old Genoa attacking midfielder. Another interesting young man.
Finally: Dazn has reached an agreement with Sky to broadcast the championship. Good? It depends. For Sky subscribers it changes little. If they want to see it, they will have to sign up for two subscriptions. The question is always the same: Dazn made the highest bid to the League for television rights and rightly won control of Italian football on television. But is streaming really the best vehicle to improve and enhance the Italian football brand?
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