ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Juventus FC

Posted by Sumeet Paul on 06/27/2011

With the summer calcio mercato well under way, clubs across Italy find themselves being linked with every player under the sun, well, every player except Hasan Salihamadzic. Juventus moved quickly to seal three free transfers earlier this month, with Andrea Pirlo, Reto Ziegler and Michele Pazienza all signing up to the Conte Revolution. With the latter’s arrival upstaged by Gigi Buffon’s big day, impatience turned into annoyance at the lack of activity and absence of big money signings. However, while critics furiously typed away bemoaning the Bianconeri hierarchy’s activity, or lack of, Juve showered us with gifts in the form of a quadruple of signings to end the month on a high.

Matri seals dream Juve move ©GettyImages

Now, granted anything involving Alena Seredova will have my attention in a flash (Gigi you lucky man!), but it is the signings of Alessandro Matri (€15.5m), Marco Motta (€3.75m), Simone Pepe (€7.5m) and Fabio Quagliarella (€10.5m) that have finally caught the attention of most supporters as the club went from shopping in Poundland to Selfridges. All four individuals spent last season on loan in Turin and made varying first impressions. Matri was a revelation following his arrival in January, netting 9 goals in just 16 appearances. Quagliarella looked the part before his season was curtailed with a serious knee injury at the turn of the year, while Motta and Pepe were largely inconsistent and will look to make major improvements next season.

Rumours and speculation continue to suggest that Juve are still targeting some big names, with Sergio Aguero and Michel Bastos amongst those mentioned. However, having already spent €37.25m, you have to wonder how much more the club has in reserve for strengthening the squad following the construction of the new stadium. Spare a thought for Alberto Aquilani too, with the Azzurri ace seeing every other loanee earn a permanent deal while he looks ahead to a return to England.

So while many of us were left wondering whether the Old Lady’s money vault had been emptied by Torino fans late in the night, the club have finally splashed out and brought in re-enforcements in preparation for next season, albeit four out of the seven are familiar faces. Ziegler aside, it is also refreshing to see the club continuing the successful tradition of creating a squad with a strong Italian backbone. Whether or not it has better results under Conte, we’ll find out in August.

What do you make of the summer signings so far? Happy with the arrivals, or are you still holding out for someone in particular? Share your thoughts!

You can follow me on Twitter @italiafooty for all the latest Juventus and Serie A news!

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Comments

Posted by decina on 06/22/2011

So far, so good. Pirlo, Zeigler, Pazienza, Matri and Quagli are great signing. Hopefully Motta will be more consistent, but I prefer the likes of De Ceglie, or even the young Sorenson (are we signing him permanently?)
Bastos would be a great signing to compliment Krasic instead of Pepe, but Pepe is still a great player despite some inconsistencies.
My thoughts are that we might need another front runner, I'm assuming Iaquinta went to Napoli for the Quagli deal, correct? If this is so, we definitely need someone like Aguero or Rossi, either of which I'd be thrilled with (Rossi more so). But a starting pair of Matri and Quagli with no Europe next season is very solid, potent and sufficient.
I'm hesitant to sign more players without Europe next year. If we stay healthy and perform well, we can sign players in the winter or next summer transfer periods. For now we have a very solid starting XI with a number of great backups.

Posted by Nirvaan Dhanrajh on 06/24/2011

I'd pass on Bastos.
If we are shelling out for players, in my view its better to spend on young world class players not overrated Brazilians.
Aguero, Rossi or Hazard. Spend big and get the kind of player to build around. Whether players of this ilk would want to join JUVE is the question of most. Why not, we're the biggest club in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe.

Posted by Daniel Duncan on 06/24/2011

So far so good, I think that while Pirlo is a great player and addition to Juve, I still think they should sign Aquilani cuz lets face it Pirlo is no 'spring chicken' and with that in mind Juve need to off load some of the older players like Iaquinta, Toni, Salihamidzic ,Barzagli ,Grosso ,Grygera. With that said new,young,energetic blood is needed in defence and up front while the midfield looks good to weather a storm. Juve should bring in any 3 of these players Neymar, Rossi,Gervinho,Juan Mata,Forlán,Agüero,Dos Santos to play up front also over the years Juve has brought in tall, big center forwards but up to this day it dont work so STOP, Del Pero has a higher work rate, creativity than the likes of Iaquinta, Toni so buy player of his similar stature,work rate,agility on the pitch and for defence any 3 will do Cissokho,Rami,Hummels, Subotic,Gonzalo Castro, Kjaer and with all that said a season free of major injuries to key players and collapse of form the title should be ours.

Posted by Andrew Powers on 06/29/2011

Matri, Quags and Pepe are great signings, and yes Pepe because what he lacks in quality he makes up for in work rate. And he would be a decent backup winger.
Motta is a strange player, I can only hope he improves next season so we can raise his valuation and sell him off. Grygera, Salihamidzic Toni, Iaquinta, Amauri, Grosso and Martinez need to go as well.
Pazienza and Ziegler are decent squad players, pirlo still has some magic left in him and can help nuture the younger players and lichtsteiner is a great purchase.
Need to bring back Giovinco!
And we really should get aquilani, he's available at a decent price and he wants to play for Juve. Win-win situation. And I would hate for him to go to Milan.
There's a lot of deadwood in the current squad but I have a good feeling about next year. A marquee signing like Aguero or Rossi would be fantastic

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