The Old Lady must avoid this mistake…
Juventus fans couldn’t ask for much more from the team’s transfer window so far, but that could change soon.
A recent report from Calcio Mercato suggests that Juventus will be swapping Mattia Caldara for Leonardo Bonucci and loaning Gonzalo Higuain to Milan.
By making these moves Juventus is not only hurting themselves, but turning Milan into a competitor. There is also no immediate financial benefit to Juventus to make these moves any more palatable.
Stick with Caldara.
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Juventus is taking a major risk by swapping Caldara for Bonucci. Bonucci is on awful terms with Juve fans since his departure.
He had his public spat with Allegri during his last season with the team. He then left for a rival and to make matters worse he celebrated scoring against Juventus at Allianz Stadium. Bringing him back will likely not sit well with the Juve faithful. This is especially true when he doesn’t fit a need for the team.
Plenty of talent in defense already.
The Old Lady’s center backs have plenty of talent. They have also had some injury isssues. Giorgio Chiellini, Mehdi Benatia, and Andrea Barzagli aren’t players that can be relied on to stay healthy over the course of a full season.
Barzagli is 37 years old and has missed 21 games over the last 2 seasons due to injury according to transfermarkt. Chiellini has missed 24 games over that same span and is 33. Benatia is 31, has missed 38 games in the last 3 years, and his 33 total appearance last season were his most in the last 4 years by a wide margin.
It will be tough to rely on this group to be healthy all year. Adding a 31 year old Bonucci won’t be a cure for this issue.
Juventus is also gambling with its future by giving up Caldara. Caldara is one of the most promising young center backs in Italy, if not all of Europe.
He had the potential to form a center back pairing with Daniele Rugani that would maintain Juve’s stout defense for the next decade. Instead, Juventus will be adding the 31 year old to a defense that has 3 other center backs over the age of 30.
At 37 years old, Andrea Barzagli is likely nearing the end of his career. Mehdi Benatia is already upset that he doesn’t start more consistently and adding Bonucci won’t help that. This could leave Juventus with 3 rostered center backs at the end of the season.
By giving up a promising talent for a short-term boost Juventus is getting away from what has brought it to its current heights. Juventus has risen to the top of European football not by adding big names (although its helped), but by spending wisely on potential.
Barzagli, Bonucci (the first time), Vidal, Khedira, Mandzukic, Alves, Tevez, and Pirlo all cost Juve less than Bonucci’s current asking price. They should be continuing to build in this manner instead of continuing to throw money around in a summer where they’ve already signed Cristiano Ronaldo.
This move means that Juve needs to win a CL now even more than the Ronaldo transfer. Unfortunately, I don’t think this move brings Juventus much closer to that goal.
Where’s the money?
The Higuain portion of the Bonucci deal simply makes the move unfathomable. Juventus needed to sell some players to cover the massive expenses of this transfer window. The problem is, they didn’t sell Higuain.
If they were going to get rid of Higuain they could have sold him to Chelsea and gotten their money now. Now Juventus would need to install an obligation to buy to preserve the 30 year old’s current value.
Giving up one of the world’s best finishers is bad enough, but giving him to a league rival just makes it worse.
There are very few teams in the world that can compete with Juventus and even less in Italy. Unfortunately, Juventus may be creating another competitor for themselves.
AC Milan was in deep financial trouble not too long ago and should never have been able to add players like Caldara and Higuain this summer.
With Higuain, AC Milan goes from a team that struggled to qualify for Europa League last year to one of the favorites to qualify for Champions League this year. The only way a jump like this was possible for Milan was if they managed to add talent on loan or made a massive sale to fund new players.
Juventus gave Milan the easiest route possible with these deals. Milan will be able to afford to buy Higuain next year and could very well have locked down their center back pairing for the next decade. Milan wasn’t going to win the league any time soon. This makes trading in Bonucci to pair Caldara with Alessio Romagnoli the best outcome they could hope for.
The management team at Juventus has been incredible up to this point in the summer. They have brought the team back to the elites of European football and made the team a favorite to win the Champions League.
This move however, is short-sighted and could derail Juventus’s Italian dominance in the future. As a whole, the summer transfer window has been great for the club, but the Bonucci deal is a disappointing ending to the summer.
What do you make of this move?