For the Juve it rains in the wet. The last tile came from Uefa, with which the Juventus club has been at loggerheads since it launched the Superlega project together with Real Madrid and Barcelona. Yesterday the Times of London revealed that there are at least twenty European clubs in the sights of UEFA for alleged violation of the rules of financial fair play in the 2020-2021 season, including the Italian Juve, Inter Milan e Roma. The risk is to suffer fines and penalties. But, these days, threats from UEFA are not the main source of concern for the Bianconeri. The truth is that, as we saw during the mediocre draw against Sampdoria on Monday, Juve is the shadow of that team that until three years ago collected badges and trophies. He doesn't have a game, he doesn't have ideas, he doesn't win and he doesn't have fun. But how do you explain such a conspicuous tarnishing of one of the most titled teams in the Italian championship?
On a contingent level, excellent injuries certainly weigh: every team, in this initial moment of the season, has its troubles but suddenly losing champions like Pogba e Of Maria, without forgetting that Church it's been in the pits for months, it certainly makes the difference. It is not an alibi but it is an element not to be underestimated just as the absences of Zaniolo e Wijnaldum in Rome who will face Juve in Turin on Saturday in one of the first big matches of the new championship.
But the real reasons for Juve's malaise, net of contingent reasons, are two: the Paratici effect with its queue of purchases made only for capital gains and purchases that turned out to be completely wrong and the blurring of coach Allegri which seems to have lost the enamel of the best days in which it won championships (five in a row) repeatedly. Let us examine the two questions in detail.
PARATICI EFFECT: WRONG PURCHASES AND TRANSACTIONS MADE ONLY TO COLLECT CAPITAL GAINS
The former sporting director of Juve, Fabio Paratici, today at Tottenham with Antonio Conte on the bench, will remain in the Juventus annals as the manager who brought Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin, a champion with easy goals but also with stratospheric signings that contributed not a little to disrupt the company's financial statements. The CR7 operation can be judged as one wishes but it deserved to be attempted to attack the Champions League: it went badly. However, Paratici's market moves that still weigh on Juve today are different. They are above all the disastrous exchange with Barcelona between Pjanic and Arthur who foisted the Juventus club with a director who never entered the game and who weighs on Juve's budgets for a salary of 5 million a year, which makes it difficult to sell , and – another purchase on a free transfer but with an annual salary of 7 million – the arrival of Rabiot, who largely disappointed expectations and put Juve in difficulty by refusing the rich transfer to Manchester United. But we could go on, recalling for example the crazy operation Kean or that of Romero and others. The result of the Paratici effect, which – this must be remembered – has always been supported by the president Andrea Agnelli and by the vice president Pavel Nedved is that Juve finds itself with a balance weighed down by unsustainable salaries and market values and a team burdened by the burdens represented by players clearly not up to the reputation of the club.
IS ALLEGRI NO LONGER HIM? FEW IDEAS, OLD SCHEMES AND LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN YOUNG TALENTS
The other main cause of Juventus' malaise is the so far disappointing management of Max Allegri, first absurdly kicked out after winning five league titles in a row and then embraced again with a four-year contract worth 7 million a year but without victories and good luck returning for now. game. Allegri's current management is very disappointing and raises a merciless question: is Allegri, certainly one of the best European coaches so far, still him or has he inevitably entered the sunset avenue? Who knows, after all, this was also said of Carletto Ancelotti when he was at Napoli, except for having to clamorously change his mind in the face of his triumphs at Real Madrid.
Cheer up, then. It is true that, as the unforgettable president Giampiero Boniperti used to say, "at Juve, winning is not the most important thing but the only thing that matters". But the eye also wants its part and the fans, in addition to victories, expect a good game, which they haven't seen for some time. Today there are no victories and even less the good game. Seen against Sampdoria, but also in the pre-season against Real and against Atletico, Juve is a team without ideas and with an impressive poverty of schemes. Looking at her is boring and if, in the interview given on Saturday to FIRSTonline, a master of sports journalism like Roberto Beccantini predicted a fourth place for Juve at most, given Sampdoria what miracle would happen to allow Allegri's team not to fight for the Scudetto but at least to enter the Champions League? Such a budget is clearly unsustainable for an ambitious club like Juve but also for a coach of Allegri's fame, whose lack of ideas and schemes is particularly striking (but why always play with a 4-man defense if you don't have full-backs 'height?) and above all the reluctance to bet on talented young people. Allegri is absolutely right in pointing out that only with young players you don't go far but, faced with the unwatchable mediocrity of the current midfield, why not try continuously not only Miretti but also Rovella and Fagioli, just to name a few?
Football is strange and perhaps on Saturday evening after the big match Juve-Roma, these judgments will be completely overturned but the underlying reasons for the black and white malaise remain and it won't be just any Milik to solve them. For now, the verdict on Juve and Allegri is merciless.
