Max Allegri admits Gonzalo Higuain “wasn’t in great condition” when he arrived at Juventus but “in the last week he’s improved a lot”.
The Argentinian striker was Serie A top-scorer last season, and joined the Bianconeri for a League record €90m.
However, in a friendly appearance against West Ham, Pipita was mocked for his seemingly overweight appearance, even being called a “pig” by Robert Prosinecki.
Max Allegri admits Gonzalo Higuain “wasn’t in great condition” when he arrived at Juventus but “in the last week he’s improved a lot”.
The Argentinian striker was Serie A top-scorer last season, and joined the Bianconeri for a League record €90m.
However, in a friendly appearance against West Ham, Pipita was mocked for his seemingly overweight appearance, even being called a “pig” by Robert Prosinecki.
“In the last week he’s improved a lot,” Allegri assured in his Press conference ahead of the Fiorentina game.
“When he came here he wasn’t in great condition, but now he’s much better and he scored in Villar Perosa. So he’s better, in the same way all the others are better.”
Miralem Pjanic went off injured in the friendly at Villar Perosa, and after a series of injuries to the squad last season, he may not play tomorrow.
“Risking players also depends on timing. It’s normal that at this stage of the season, if using a player would be a risk then I won’t use him.
“With regard to pre-season, the difference between this year and last year is simple: last year we went until June 7, when we played a Champions League final, and the team needed some time.
“The problem is that when we re-started there were only 15 days until the Supercoppa, so we had to rush.
“This year the timing of pre-season, the space leading up to the start of the season, was 40 days which is a normal time to prepare for a season.
“We had good calibre friendlies but not excessively intense, then in the last part we had West Ham and then Espanyol so there’s been a gradual progression.
“It’s normal that those who arrived before August have 20 days in their legs. This week we had to prepare for the game, so the workload wasn’t as high.
“It’s normal that for some they’re late in conditioning, but the preparation is going well and we’re almost at the end.
“That said, I’d prefer to win and have 50 injuries at the end of the season, than lose and have three.
“The important thing is that when you get to the final straight you have to push the accelerator. And when you push the accelerator someone can crash. The important thing is you get there.”
After a summer of changes, the Coach was asked whether his squad is stronger or weaker than last season.
“We can say it’s different, because we have players with different characteristics. We didn’t have a player like Pjanic last season, we had one like Pogba.
“We have Higuain who was top-scorer in the Italian League last year and is an extraordinary player.
“Dani Alves is different from the pair we had last year – last year we had [Stephan] Lichtsteiner and [Juan] Cuadrado, this year we have Lichtsteiner-Dani Alves. Dani Alves is a different player to Cuadrado.
“[Medhi] Benatia is a defender and comes in to replace [Martin] Caceres who we didn’t really have last year.
“Marko Pjaca is very good and interesting and I think he could be the revelation of the season, because he has physical and technical quality.
“So we can’t really say if it’s stronger or weaker, just different. Especially since last year’s team got 25 wins out of 26.
“Paulo Dybala? Dybala can do even better things than last year, because he’s an extraordinary player who had impressive growth last season. If I think back to when he arrived, he had changed totally three months later.
“He’s a lad who is always improving, and for that reason he’s a player who will go on to be one of the top three players in the world. One reason for that is his focus, he’s a very determined lad.
“Is Pogba top three in the world? He can become one of them. He’s on his way. But he also has to have clear objectives and grow.”
Finally, Allegri was asked about Sami Khedira, who went off injured while representing Germany at Euro 2016.
“Since we’re not talking about the transfer market, I’ll answer the Khedira question. He arrived on August 5, he’s in the best condition he can be given the 15 days he’s been training.
“He’s a player with great instinct, so if he’s on the pitch he knows how to mask his non-optimal condition with his play.”