The one player Juventus still needs to sign this winter

I said it over the summer and I’ll say it again now, Juventus needs to sign Isco.

Over the summer, he was one of a few options to give Juventus the dimension their midfield had been missing, but Juventus ended up signing none of those options. Instead, they trusted that the consistently injured Aaron Ramsey would be enough to take their midfield to the next level. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case through the first 3 months of the year as Ramsey has unsurprisingly not been able to stay healthy.

After missing the first month of the season, he was finally ready to debut in mid-September and looked like he was going to be a great signing for Juventus. Unfortunately, he was only able to appear 5 times for a total of 210 minutes before missing nearly a full month with muscular fatigue. He has since worked his way back to make two substitute appearances, but Juventus can’t continue to trust the fate of their midfield to a player who has only managed to start 3 times in about 3 months. Luckily for Juventus, the player they should have signed over the summer should be as ready to move on from his current team as he has ever been.

The situation for Isco at Real Madrid looked pretty bleak last season and it has only gotten worse this year. Last season, he was only given 14 starts and 1439 total minutes between La Liga and the Champions League. It looked like it was only a matter of time before he would leave Real. Then James Rodriguez came back from loan and Isco’s situation got even worse.

So far this year, Isco has made only 2 starts and 5 total appearances in La Liga. This appearances have only added up to 187 minutes in the first 3 months of the season. He hasn’t even made an appearance in the Champions League yet. If it wasn’t already clear that Isco isn’t a part of Real’s future plans, a recent rumor that they are interested in Napoli’s Fabian Ruiz should just about seas Isco’s fate. He’s going to be heading to a new team soon and that team should be Juventus.

We have already gotten a glimpse of what Juventus could look like if Aaron Ramsey was able to stay healthy. He played great in his first few starts and gave Juventus a dimension they hadn’t had since Paul Pogba left. They finally have a midfielder who could contribute on both ends of the field and who links the midfield with the attack. His runs in the attacking third gave Juve a new threat that opened up opportunities for the strikers and even led to Ramsey scoring a goal in his first start.

Unfortunately, everything Ramsey adds only counts for so much when he is rarely healthy and is only capable of playing 60-70 minutes when he actually is healthy. Juve needs somebody they can rely on to play every big match. So far, it doesn’t seem like Ramsey is that guy.

On the other hand. Isco has never been a major health concern. He has only ever missed more than 6 games in a season once and that was last year when he missed 8. Half of those matches he missed because of appendicitis, which isn’t exactly an injury you need to worry about reoccurring. Isco would be somebody Juve could depend on to be available whenever they need him.

He is also just a more talented player than Ramsey. We’ve seen what he can do with Spain when they make him the focal point of their attack. He has dominated for years with his national team, even as the team has struggled to reach the heights of the last generation.

He hasn’t been quite as impressive at Real, but that has been due in large part to no regularity in

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his playing time. In his first 5 seasons at Real, when he was playing more regularly (although still only started more than 21 matches for 2 of those seasons) he racked up an impressive 32 goals and and 37 assists in La Liga. The fact that he isn’t playing regularly certainly isn’t a reflection of his performances.

It also wouldn’t be too difficulty financially for Juve to make this move. Isco’s lack of playing time, disappointing numbers last season, and clear expendability at Real should all add up to a pretty reasonable transfer fee and they have a pretty clear path to being able to pay that fee. They don’t need to keep Daniele Rugani around in the second half of the season to be their 4th center back and 5th when Giorgio Chiellini comes back in March. Mattia Perin would also be an obvious choice to be sold this winter. He’s only even still with the team because of a failed medical. If Isco were to join, it would also make it so Juve could sell 2 of their midfielders to break up the logjam that currently sees Rodrigo Bentancur, Emre Can, and Adrien Rabiot all struggling to get starts.

The obvious choice to be sold would be Sami Khedira. He provides just about nothing to Juventus when he plays and really just takes time away from players who could actually benefit from some playing time. He would also never see the field if Juve added Isco. The next midfielder to go would be a tough choice. Blaise Matuidi will still serve a purpose when Juve plays good competition. His lack of attacking ability would also be offset by including a creative force like Isco in the lineup.

Emre Can could be ready to leave after being left out of the Champions League squad and only starting once in Serie A. He’s still young enough that he’d fetch a decent price and he would have plenty of teams interested in him. Any fee paid for him would also be plusvalenza for Juve because they got him as a Bosman transfer. Adrien Rabiot is another Bosman signing who might be ready to leave Juventus. He left PSG expecting to start every match wherever he ended up next. That has been far from the case with Juve and that doesn’t look like it’s going to be changing in the near future. He hasn’t done much to force his way into the starting lineup and Maurizio Sarri doesn’t quite trust him yet.

Next. Grading every Juventus offseason move. dark

Selling Rugani, Perin, Khedira, and another midfielder should provide Juve with the necessary funds to make this move. Once the funds are out-of-the-way, there is no reason not to make this move. The midfield remains Juve’s biggest issue right now and it has shown throughout their recent performances. If they don’t fix their problems soon, they could be headed toward a disappointment similar to last year’s. We’ve been hearing the Isco to Juve rumors for years, but this year they need to be true for Juve to become a true contender in the Champions League.

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The one player Juventus needs to sign this winter

By John Vaccaro | Nov 6, 2019

I said it over the summer and I’ll say it again now, Juventus needs to sign Isco.