5 players Juventus should sign this summer: Midfield needs an overhaul
By John Vaccaro
Donny van de Beek
There’s at least one Ajax player on these lists every time I put out a new one and this time around, the Ajax player I think Juve should try to sign is Donny van de Beek. His signature might be tough to acquire with teams lining up to bid for him, including Manchester United and Real Madrid, but he would absolutely be worth the cost.
As I’m sure you can guess from how I’ve been building Juve’s squad so far in this article, their midfield badly needs to be overhauled. They’ve had elite defences and limitless attacking talent over the last few years, but their midfield has completely lagged behind.
I’ve already covered how they should fill the other two roles in the midfield so that just leaves the box-to-box role they never filled after Arturo Vidal left for Bayern Munich. Van de Beek would be a great fit to take that over for Juve.
Van de Beek has shown strengths on both ends of the field and is strong enough on defence to give whoever he’s playing alongside the freedom to venture forward and attack. If the players alongside him actually end up being Tonali and Milinkovic-Savic, then that would have a very strong chance of being Europe’s best midfield for years to come.
That’s the best part of this signing. It’s not just about right now. It’s also about building a dynasty at Juventus that can once again consistently compete with the best teams in Europe like the Juve squads of the last 90s and early 2000s used to.
The most interesting part of this move would be how it impact Matthijs de Ligt. Juve just spent a ton of money to sign him and it’s reasonable to believe that signing one of his former Ajax teammates could help the two of them feel comfortable enough at Juve that they make their stay in Torino a long-term one. Together, they could form the beginning of a young core that would see Juve dominate Italy for years and return them to the top of European competition.
It might be expensive as Juve will likely have to outlast a few teams in a bidding war, but I believe signing van de Beek would be a massive win for Juventus.