Juventus Business Far From Done with Midfield the Priority
As Manchester United welcomes Pogback, Juventus say Pogbye. His successor in the No.10 shirt has already been sourced in-house. The idea is to give it to Paulo Dybala. Just as Pogba followed in the footsteps of his fellow countryman Michel Platini, the Argentine should step into the shoes previously filled by Omar Sivori and Carlitos Tevez. That is of course if he believes his shoulders are now broad enough to carry the extra responsibility.
Securing Pogba’s replacement in midfield meanwhile is still yet to be done and assumes top priority in the final weeks of this transfer window. The acquisition of Miralem Pjanic was reductively interpreted in some quarters as preparation for the exit of Pogba. On the contrary the Bosnian’s arrival in Turin brought a year-long search for Andrea Pirlo’s heir to an end.
Juventus have ensured they will not miss Pogba’s sense of invention. Dybala proved last season that he is so much more than just a finisher. He’s a creator too as the nine assists he laid on for his teammates demonstrate. Pjanic set up 12 goals for Roma. Marko Pjaca, another of Juventus’ summer recruits dubbed a “wing wizard” by their press office, arrives with 19 assists in his professional career.
Then there’s Dani Alves. Even at 33, it’s not difficult to see why Lionel Messi begged him not to leave a year ago and already misses him dearly. Alves was involved in two of Juventus’ three goals against West Ham at the weekend and registered the third most assists (55) in the last seven La Liga seasons prior to his exit. Alex Sandro is hardly shy over on the other side either. Juan Cuadrado, Dybala and the rest of the team had him to thank for finding a way through for them in the Turin derby and clash with Milan last season. He’ll be better for a year in Italy.
In short, technique is not lacking in this Juventus team. Actually, as Max Allegri observes, it has gone up a level and is now more widely distributed. The element of Pogba’s game that Juventus miss most at the moment, the one remaining hole they need to fill, is the physicality, the athleticism and dynamism he brought. All that got lost or started to become a distant third or fourth to the goals, assists and the flair that pumped up the volume of the Pogba hype machine.
As Juventus remembered in a statement announcing Pogba’s sale, entitled “Merci Paul,” their thanks in particular went to the shift he put in without the ball as well, winning it back for his team 1152 times in his four years at the club. N’Golo Kante would have been a perfect replacement. The trouble is Juventus’ old frenemy Antonio Conte had the same idea. The potential silver-lining of Kante relocating to West London for Juventus was the impact it promised to have on Nemanja Matic’s future.
Matic is high on their list of preferences. Memories of his performances the season before last live long. Matic made the most tackles in the Premier League (128), won possession the most in the middle third (189) and demonstrated he was much more than a destroyer. He made the more accurate passes in his own half than any other midfielder (947) and ranked in the top 10 for dribble success rate (78.8%). Is it any wonder that Conte believes regenerating Matic is worth the effort? After picking up signals at the end of last season that he would be open to a move to Turin, it now looks very unlikely that Matic will be making anywhere other than Stamford Bridge his home next season.
Running him close as Juventus’ first choice candidate for the position is Blaise Matuidi. Coincidentally, he is represented by a certain Mino Raiola, the same agent as Pogba and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if he felt like helping Juventus out after pocketing a reported €25m from them in the Pogba deal or, if we take a more cynical view of him, opportunistically wrangling another commission out of the Old Lady.
Matuidi has two years left on his contract in Paris and the decision by new coach Unai Emery to bring Grzegorz Krychowiak with him from Sevilla has raised questions about his future. Emery has also pointed out that PSG aren’t exactly short of left-footed midfield players. He can count on Adrien Rabiot and Thiago Motta too. But after initially appearing indifferent towards Matuidi, the tune Emery struck has changed. He is now echoing PSG’s president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in saying: “I want the best players with me, so I want Matuidi to stay here.”
Whether the player has other ideas remains to be seen. Only Maxime Gonalons has made more tackles (738) than Matuidi (661) in the last seven years in Ligue 1. The attraction to Juventus is obvious. Matuidi would slot right into where Pogba played. They are determined to get him. If PSG dig in, however, Luiz Gustavo of Wolfsburg is an alternative on loan. Axel Witsel has been linked with a move to Turin for years, but apparently doesn’t convince Allegri and has now decided to stay at Zenit. Moussa Sissoko, at £35m, is overpriced.
There’s a case to be made that Juventus need another midfielder on top of a Matuidi-type. Claudio Marchisio is out until October at the earliest after knee surgery. Sami Khedira missed 18 games through injury last season and can’t be relied upon to stay fit all year. All of this overlooks the fact, however, that Kwadwo Asamoah is back, the club rates Mario Lemina and will be able to call upon Stefano Sturaro and Rolando Mandragora when once they are fit again. One, along with Roberto Pereyra and Hernanes (and Zaza) might yet be sold to bring in more money but Juventus seem well-stocked enough. In fact instead of a second midfielder they are closely monitoring another forward, the Brazil and Santos starlet Gabriel Barbosa.
Juventus’ transfer business is not done yet.
Which midfielder should Juventus pursue to cover Pogba's move to Manchester United? Let us know yor thoughts in the comments below
