Juventus are on the verge of signing Juan Cabal from Hellas Verona and the two roles the Colombian can cover suggest he may be a new Riccardo Calafiori for Thiago Motta in Turin.
Verona defender Cabal arrived in Turin this morning to undergo medical tests with Juventus ahead of a permanent €12m transfer, including add-ons.
The Colombian mostly played as a left-back at Verona last season but has also been deployed as a centre-back during his career, even at the Stadio Bentegodi.
His versatility reminds of Bologna star Calafiori who joined the Rossoblu as a left-back last summer, but developed into a centre-back under Motta at the Stadio Dall’Ara in 2023-24.
Motta will be unveiled as the new Juventus coach at a press conference later today when he will likely discuss his ideas on Cabal.
Muro in difesa e locomotiva in avanti 🧱🚂
Alla scoperta del nuovo acquisto della Juventus Juan David Cabal 🇨🇴⚪️⚫️#Cabal #Juventus #DAZN pic.twitter.com/FQ700D1x81— DAZN Italia (@DAZN_IT) July 18, 2024
On paper, the defender’s experience on the left flank and in central defence suggests that Motta may work on the 23-year-old in the same way he did with Calafiori last season.
There are, however, clear differences between the two defenders, as their price tags suggest.
As mentioned, Cabal will move to Turin on a €10m deal plus €2m add-ons, while Calafiori is expected to join Arsenal for over €50m.
Cabal earned more and more playing time at Hellas Verona in the second part of 2023-24 after the Scaligeri were forced to sell their best players for financial reasons. Stats and heatmap on Sofascore confirm that the Colombian mostly played as a left-back last term and even if passing numbers are not quite close to those of Calafiori, defending stats look pretty similar.
Calafiori’s stats in these regards are incredibly higher, with 90% accurate passes per game, including 82% accuracy for passes in the opponent’s half and no errors leading to goals.
Defensively, however, Calafiori averaged 1.7 interceptions per game against Cabal’s 1.2. The Colombian won more aerial duels (73% to 71%) and is close to Calafiori for total duels won (63% for Calafiori and 61% for him) and ground duels (53% Cabal, 58% Calafiori).
This means Juventus had to look for a similar and cheaper player. Even if it is not guaranteed that the fourth and latest Juventus purchase will follow the same trajectory as one of the most exciting defenders in Europe at the moment, Motta will work with a similar prospect, hoping to get the same results.
I’ve got a great idea why don’t we have a nazionale full of stranieri and moorihno as coach , that way we could be more aligned with seria Anything but Italians or pick a squad based on the refs, at least they’re Italian