Can Juventus finally achieve European glory?
Over the last decade, Italian football clubs have had a rough patch in Europe. Jose Mourinho's treble-winning Inter Milan was the last Italian side to win the UEFA Champions League.
Since then, only Juventus have gone close. They reached two finals in five years but finished at the wrong end on both occasions against Spanish giants Barcelona in 2015 and Real Madrid in 2017.
Juve prolonged their dominance in Italy by extending their Scudetto winning-streak to eight over as many years. They are known for their defensive solidity and disciplined build-up from the back. Both Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri preferred this philosophy over the high-pressing attack based style of play. However, last season showed the need for a change after they suffered embarrassing defeats at the hands of Ajax in the UCL quarterfinals and Atalanta in the Coppa Italia.
The world witnessed Juve's defence crumble on several occasions last season. Despite signing Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in hopes of clinching European glory, they had to settle to just winning the league. The board led by Andrea Agnelli and Pavel Nedved noticed that their style of play needed improvement as it was finally time to adapt.
New man at the helm
Maurizio Sarri was the man entrusted with the responsibility of introducing a high-octane philosophy of football. His teams are known for fast-paced football with intricate passing and quick movements. The infamous 'SarriBall' is a philosophy where each player is positioned in tactical triangles. The player holding the ball makes a fast pass through each triangle and transition to the final third. A Regista is mandatory to conduct the orchestra from the heart of midfield.
However, the board should know that Rome was not built in a day and will have to be patient and give him sufficient time to establish his style of play.
Reinforcements
Last season, The Bianconeri had a less physical midfield when compared to the top European teams. Miralem Pjanic, Blaise Matuidi, and Rodrig Bentancur are talented enough to dominate other Italian clubs that are also defensive-minded. On the contrary, the Turin giants suffered against teams with a well-built and creative midfield. Both Pjanic and Bentancur are not physically imposing, which resulted in them losing the ball quite frequently.
To overcome this discrepancy, the board decided to upgrade the midfield by signing Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot to give Sarri more options. Rabiot is aggressive, while Ramsey brings more technical flair that would suit Sarri's system.
With Giorgio Chiellini entering the twilight of his career, it was high time they found his eventual successor. Juventus needed to find the ideal successor who would emulate the 34-year-old's character. They signed Europe's most sought-out talent, Matthijs De Ligt. The teenage sensation is a generational talent. He is only going to get better under the tutelage of Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci.
Apart from De Ligt, Juve signed Merih Demiral from Sassuolo, Luca Pellegrini from Roma, and Cristian Romero from Genoa which shows their intentions of replacing the entire backline shortly.
Moving further up the pitch, Juventus won't be struggling for goals, as long as Cristiano Ronaldo has got his shooting boots on. On the other hand, Federico Bernardeschi has been impressive and Douglas Costa will look to win back his place in the starting 11.
The problem Sarri faces is that he has too many attacking options. Gonzalo Higuain, Mario Mandzukic, and Juan Cuadrado will be looking for playing time. So, few attackers should be offloaded to avoid complications on the bench.
La Joya on the move?
Paulo Dybala has had a year to forget. The Argentine fell out of former coach Max Allegri's plans last season and had to sit out on several occasions. He will be expecting to be a regular starter under Sarri, or else he would push for an exit.
With Manchester United trying to lure Dybala away from Turin and Juve discussing a plausible player exchange that also includes Mario Mandzukic in the deal for Romelu Lukaku, there are chances that La Joya could be on his way out. However, Juventus could be getting the short end of the stick by exchanging Dybala and Mandzukic for Lukaku.
What next?
Thus, after a change in management and a heavily active transfer period, Juventus will be looking to have a go at all the trophies. The fans have been supportive of the board's plan to clean the slate and start from scratch. With Ronaldo fired-up for his second season in Italy, he will be looking to break more records.
With the fans craving for a more exciting style of play, Maurizio Sarri could be the right man to orchestrate a rejuvenated Juventus in bringing the European crown back to Turin for the first time in 24 years.