3 reasons Juventus shouldn’t make Bernardeschi-Rakitic swap with Barcelona
By John Vaccaro
A rumor has surfaced recently that Juventus is interested in sending Federico Bernardeschi to Barcelona in exchange for Ivan Rakitic.
I believe that making this move would be a mistake for Juve. Here are 3 reasons why they shouldn’t make this move right now.
They May Have Finally Found Bernardeschi’s Best Role
Isn’t this what we’ve been waiting over 2 years for? Haven’t Juventus fans been waiting for a glimmer of hope that Federico Bernardeschi just might be the player Juve was hoping for when they took him from Fiorentina? Now that we’ve finally been given that hope, why exactly are we immediately trying to get rid of him?
In my opinion, it would be in Juve’s best interest to at least ascertain whether or not last Wednesday’s performance was a fluke. If a move to Mezzala can turn Bernardeschi’s career around, the Juve could have a helpful new weapon for their midfield already. At worst, they’d have a valuable asset to sell during the summer.
In my opinion, either one of these players would be used in this role as a short-term solution. The difference with keeping Bernardeschi would be that he’s a short-term solution that wouldn’t cost Juve anything extra and could even potentially turn into a longer term solution.
What makes this even worse, is that this swap could end up being very costly for them in the future. There is never a season that Barcelona isn’t a contender in the Champions League. The last thing Juventus need to do is allow them to offload on of their aging players in exchange for a younger player who could just be finding his best role. They already made the mistake of swapping Joao Cancelo for Danilo this year and strengthening Manchester City’s squad for this season and future season. They don’t need to make that mistake again and potentially make their path to the Champions League they’ve desperately chased for over 2 decades even tougher for future seasons.
Juventus finally has a chance to make their investment in Bernardeschi pay off. It would be a poor choice to sell him before they possibly see him play at his best and just in time for a competitor to take advantage.