Grading every Juventus offseason move

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - AUGUST 10: Matthijs de Ligt of Juventus during a match in the International Champions Cup between Atletico de Madrid and Juventus FC at Friends Arena on August 10, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - AUGUST 10: Matthijs de Ligt of Juventus during a match in the International Champions Cup between Atletico de Madrid and Juventus FC at Friends Arena on August 10, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
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TURIN, ITALY – AUGUST 07: Juventus player Luca Pellegrini drives the ball during a training session with Novara at JTC on August 07, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – AUGUST 07: Juventus player Luca Pellegrini drives the ball during a training session with Novara at JTC on August 07, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)

Swapping Spinazzola for Pellegrini and subsequent loan: C

This move made a lot more sense before Luca Pellegrini was sent out on loan. Leonardo Spinazzola played really well for Juve last season and looked like he would at least be a solid backup for Alex Sandro even if he never did become a starter at Juve.

However, his sale represented a big capital gain for Juve in a summer where they were planning to make at least one big purchase. Luca Pellegrini is also a promising prospect who would have been an acceptable backup for Sandro as well. Then Juve went and loaned him out to Cagliari.

Now Juve has gone from having a really strong group of full backs at their disposal to having to rely on Juan Cuadrado as the backup right back. That’s right, Juan Cuadrado. The same Juan Cuadrado who looked like an absolute liability at right back last season even against weak competition and who didn’t really have anything to offer Juve last year.

I was fine with the swap of left backs. It gave Juve a player they could rely on in the future and who would be fine developing behind Sandro for a few years. More importantly, it made my favorite move of the summer possible. However, Juve turned this into a mess and I think starting Juan Cuadrado at right back will have disastrous consequences for Juve.