Juventus‘ golden era began with Beppe Marotta at the helm and Football Italia looks at the 65-year-old’s spell in Turin, where he will return on Sunday as the defending Serie A champion.
Juventus appointed Marotta in 2010 after the Bianconeri had finished seventh in the previous campaign under Ciro Ferrara and Alberto Zaccheroni. He joined the Old Lady from Sampdoria, along with Fabio Paratici. The duo tried to replicate the winning formula that had allowed their Sampdoria side to reach a top-four finish in the previous campaign, hiring their coach Luigi Delneri.
The Bianconeri faced another brutal campaign under the ex-Chievo coach finishing seventh again, so Delneri was sacked and Antonio Conte came in to replace him. The Italian tactician moved to Turin in the same summer as Andrea Pirlo (free transfer from Milan) and Arturo Vidal (€10m from Bayer Leverkusen). It was just the beginning of a winning path perfectly shaped by Marotta, who was able to bring in reinforcements in a sustainable way. He was able to replace Conte in a matter of hours when the coach left after one day into the 2014-15 pre-season. Max Allegri replaced him winning Serie A, Coppa Italia and reaching the Champions League Final against Barcelona in his first campaign at the club.
The rest, as they say, is history. Seven Serie A titles on the pitch and many smart deals off it, with negotiations brilliantly led by him and Paratici, his right-hand man, who mainly had scouting duties. Paul Pogba joined the club for free from Manchester United in 2012, returning to Old Trafford four years later for €100m. Sami Khedira, Dani Alves, Patrice Evra, Kingsley Coman and Emre Can all joined the Bianconeri on free transfers through the years.
Carlos Tevez was the first world-class striker to move to Juventus after the Calciopoli era and his 50 goals in 96 games were even more impressive considering that he had joined from Manchester City for just €9m plus €6m add-ons. He played one season with Alvaro Morata, who spent two years at Juventus, and was followed by Mario Mandzukic and Gonzalo Higuain, who completed a shock €90m move from Napoli. Paulo Dybala, now a target of Marotta’s Inter, joined from Palermo for €40m.
Oddly, it was when one of the biggest players of all time – Cristiano Ronaldo – signed for Juventus that Marotta’s time in Turin came to an end. The negotiation with Real Madrid saw Paratici involved in first person and despite never admitting it publicly, Marotta wasn’t too convinced about the operation’s sustainability. Looking backwards, he wasn’t exactly wrong.
Marotta left Juventus by mutual agreement in 2018, days before a shareholders’ meeting. “When I arrived, Andrea Agnelli was a young president, now he is a complete manager, Paratici was a boy,” he said at that time. “The club took their path and when you see that there’s no longer space, it’s correct to take a step back.”
Last year, after leading Inter to win their first Serie A title in 11 years, he revealed one more detail: “I had left Juventus on Saturday and I received a text from Steven Zhang on Sunday morning. I like challenges.”
“My experience with Juventus gave me a lot,” he added in an interview with GR Parlamento.
“I remained on good terms with everyone except for one person, namely Fabio Paratici.”
The now-Tottenham director was appointed chief of the sporting area and remained at the Allianz Stadium until 2021 when he joined Spurs.