Juventus had a disappointing 2009/10 season, last summer they signed Diego and Felipe Melo in hopes of ending Inter’s title run, but the two failed to deliver the scudetto. Now Juventus is beginning to change, with Andrea Agnelli as the president, Beppe Marotta as the general manager, and Gigi Del Neri as the coach. But the first step to creating a squad of top quality players is selling the broken ones, and Juventus have plenty to get rid of.
While Diego and Felipe Melo were supposed to add Brazilian flair and defensive solidity to the team, they were unable to make their mark on the team. This past season Diego only scored 5 goals in 33 appearances (31 starts), which is very little compared to his past three seasons at Werder Bremen, where he scored 13 his first, 13 his second, and 12 in his last season in the Bundesliga. But maybe a more interesting fact is that Diego was subbed off 18 times, signfifying that he either had an injury mid-game every week, or wasn’t good enough, and was taken off.
Felipe Melo on the other hand has scored 4 goals in 29 appearances this season, but his real problem was his constant fouling and picking up of cards. He received 11 yellow cards, and 2 red cards due to accumulation of yellows, because of this high amount of cards, he has had to miss plenty of games because of suspension. And what’s the point in having a defensive midfielder who’s constantly suspended, getting red cards, and giving away fouls and penalties to the opposition?
While these two Brazilians haven’t delivered, Juventus are still willing to keep them for another season. Diego hasn’t received many offers, and will very probably stay, but Felipe Melo is in a different position. The club are listening to offers, which means they’re sitting around the phone, waiting for it to ring with an offer of above 10 million. If Juve don’t receive any decent offers, they’ll keep Melo for another season and see how it goes, but if Arsenal or Liverpool ask how much for the Brazilian, the club will certainly be looking to negotiate.
Juventus also have the slight problem called Amauri, the underperforming forward who scored 5 goals this past season with the club, and on his CV you’ll also see a very nice, big, direct red card. Amauri not only has underperformed, but he has a temper, and this results in yellows and reds which are not very useful for the team. The Italian-Brazilian wants to stay at Juventus, he says he has unpaid debts with the club and the fans, and that when he’s playing right, he’s the best. He also says he fears no one like Pazzini, Gilardino, or Dzeko (who could join Juventus this transfer window), and if he has the chance, will play for the Azzurri in the 2014 World Cup (which is in Brazil). So Amauri will be trying to avenge two very disappointing seasons as he will probably remain with the bianconeri for next season, but the 30 year-old isn’t getting any younger.
Juventus will also be looking to offload Trezeguet, who has received offers from Sevilla and Marseille. And the same with Giovinco, who is wanted very much by Bari, although Juventus might be only interested in a loan deal. Zebina is another weight on the squad list as he isn’t accomplishing much in his sporting career, and apparently he has received some offers. And Del Piero seems to have bothered his ankle/leg in training today, it’s not specified, but in training he seemed to step on it wrong, and with an expression of pain on his face, he stopped training. The medical staff are hoping that just a day of rest will be enough before he can resume training, but at 35 years of age, it might be time to retire for Del Piero.
So Juventus have plenty of players to sell, and in this economic crisis there’s two main clubs that have money, Manchester City and Real Madrid, the bad thing is, I’m pretty sure they’re not interested in any of these players. So Juventus will be looking to convince some players to leave, others to retire, and possibly a few to join for the strange experience which will be next season.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Felipe Melo’s dismal performance against the Dutch might cost Juve dearly. He’s one player Juve must sell because he didn’t perform well last season and he was involved in verbal spats with the Juve fans.
Arsenal were interested so it will depend if they do make an offer for him
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I doubt Arsenal will make an offer for him after seeing his temper at its worst, Arsene Wenger is very picky with his players, and usually doesn’t like players like Melo.
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Agreed but Wenger often signs some unexpected players or extends for them (such as W. Gallas who is a bad teammate to have in the locker room).
I think Juve will find it hard to offload most of these players (Camoranesi, Grosso, Zebina, Grygera, F. Melo, Tiago, Poulsen etc…) unless prices are slashed considerable or in some cases even a free transfer is done after the player is released by the club.
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Yep, Juve will find it hard to sell, but there’s been some good news recently, Juventus beat a Triestina Reppresentative side 6-0 in a friendly.
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The problem is most of the players are near retirement or past their best. They have little value.
Only Diego and F. Melo can command a good asking price but both had a bad first season in Turin so their price might be declining.
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Yep, and one didn’t go to the World Cup, and the other helped kick his country out in shame.
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Get rid of Felipe Melo ! ASAP !!!
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F. Melo was by far Brazil’s worst player in the tournament. He was behind the 3 key moments in Brazil’s demise (own goal which later FIFA credited to Sneijder, the 2nd goal when he failed to mark Sneijder from a corner, and then the red card).
I am not sure who would want to spend money on a very unpredictable player who does not offer much in terms of team spirit, discipline and has the wrong attitude. Juve might be stuck with Melo.
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