Football Season Guide

The past season was a troublesome one for Juventus as they eventually failed to qualify to the Champions League in an absurd campaign finale. After being almost perfect in the initial 3 weeks of the season, they even offered themselves an incredible success over Inter, they went through a winless run that eventually led to Igor Tudor’s sacking at the end of October. Luciano Spalletti took over and managed to bring Juventus back to the top 4, while giving the team an offensive play supporters had not seen in ages. They were disastrous in February, being eliminated from the Champions League and from the Coppa Italia, while being winless in the league. Unbeaten between weeks 27 and 36, they reached the 3rd rung of the ladder but eventually committed suicide, losing to Fiorentina and throwing win away against Torino, thus dropping on the 6th place. While they underwent changes at management level as they kept on reducing the costs, Spalletti was nevertheless confirmed at the helm and asked to bring Juventus back to the top. Last season, Juventus displayed some major problems. First of all, Starting goalie Di Gregorio looked far too erratic and unreliable but he was not substituted yet. The defence, with only 34 goals conceded, looked solid enough but they are still looking for a better alternative to Gatti on the bench, hoping that Bremer is not lured away. In the midfield, Douglas Luiz and Arthur returned from loans and have been given a chance in the preseason, but they seem to have wasted it. Thus, also considering that Koopmeiners never lifted himself above mediocrity, they could sign a strong midfielder to be added to Locatelli and Thuram. The attack is the area that changed the most over the summer: key striker Vlahovic was denied a contract renewal while Openda was loaned away and David could follow suit. Thus, they hired Kolo Muani, who did well in his previous stint, and are still looking for another striker. Young winger Alajbegovic was also hired, meaning more departures could be expected.