Max Allegri’s mentor Giovanni Galeone says Juventus will ‘need a miracle’ to win the title without four new signings and complains that the Old Lady’s boss is treated differently from Antonio Conte or Pep Guardiola.
The Bianconeri are on the verge of signing Filip Kostic from Eintracht Frankfurt, but Galeone believes they will need more to be credible title contenders in 2022-23.
The interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper was published this morning before Juventus reached an agreement to sign Kostic.
“This Juventus side need at least for new signings, if not, they’d need a miracle to be competitive at a high level, especially after Pogba’s injury,” Galeone, a former coach and close friend of Allegri, told the pink paper.
“Have you seen Juventus’ midfield against Koke, Saul and the others?”
The Serie A giants have sold Matthijs de Ligt to Bayern Munich, signing Gleison Bremer to replace him.
However, Galeone isn’t convinced about the Brazilian centre-back and believes the Bianconeri should have signed Kalidou Koulibaly instead.
“De Ligt was exceptional on the right but suffered a little on the left. They signed Bremer, who has never played as a left centre-back. Did you watch the game against Atletico? Morata joked with him. He had never made such a bad impression at Torino.
“The dream defence would have been Koulibaly-De Light because Bonucci is getting older and has never been at the level of the past playing without Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli,” the former coach continued.
“It wasn’t possible [to sign Koulibaly and keep De Ligt] and I understand that, but the first Juventus of Allegri had an iron defence which is no longer there. Perhaps, Max is considering switching to a three-man defence.”
So, what do Juventus need to improve their squad?
“Surely a quality midfielder who can give order in the middle of the park. Leandro Paredes would be good because Locatelli is not a Regista. They also need a striker.
“Morata is tactically reliable, he can play as a centre forward, support striker or winger. With one signing, they’d solve three problems.
“Memphis Depay and Luis Muriel are different from Morata. Alvaro helped the team, sometimes even too much. Do you see Muriel tracking back to defend? I don’t.”
Morata scored a hat-trick against his former club on Sunday and it’s unlikely to see him return to Turin.
Juventus didn’t activate their €35m option to buy in June and didn’t manage to strike a deal with Atletico for a lower fee. The Spaniard had spent two seasons on loan at the Allianz Stadium.
Galeone believes Allegri should be more demanding with club directors and insist on getting the players he needs to build a competitive team.
“Are we talking about the Juventus that wants to win the title? Because a team that wants to win and be competitive in Europe should not have problems in meeting the coach’s desires,” he said.
“I argued with Max, I told him that big coaches must pretend to get the players they need. Why do Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte get what they want and not Allegri?”