Juventus Need A Youth Movement, And The Kids Have Proven They Are Alright

Out of the mother of necessity comes invention, as the saying goes. For Max Allegri and Juventus, this means giving youth a chance.

Juventus, as of the last two decades, haven’t been a team renowned for bleeding through youngsters. In fact, The Old Lady has more than lived up to the ‘old’ part in their nickname, signing players in their late 20s to early 30s. Cristiano Ronaldo was 33 when he become the club’s most expensive signing ever at €100m ($103m). The previous holder of that crown was Gonzalo Higuain, when Juve signed him from Napoli aged 28 and seven months for €90m ($93m).

Only Claudio Marchisio has succeeded in breaking into the first team on a regular basis in the 21^st century, a damming indictment of Juve’s mentality. The club’s mantra of ‘winning isn’t important, it’s the only thing that matters’ demands instant results, which generally means not having the patience to develop and nurture young talent. ‘You produce them, and we’ll buy them’ is generally Juve’s attitude to talent.

Yet this season, Allegri has had no alternative than to turn to youth. Nicolo Fagioli and Fabio Miretti have been thrust into the spotlight due to the alarming number of injuries Juve have suffered this season. Miretti has played nearly 600 minutes in Serie A this season, alternating between a central midfielder and an attacking midfielder.

Fagioli has had to be a little bit more patient with his opportunities, but he’s certainly made the most of them. His 73^rd minute curler against Lecce in Puglia brought three points back to Turin that didn’t look close to arriving before Allegri brought him on. In the Derby d’Italia, he made sure of all three points, smashing home the second after being played through by Filip Kostic with five minutes remaining.

Injuries to Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba and Leandro Paredes has forced Allegri’s hand, but the pair of youngsters have proved they are up to the task of playing for Italy’s biggest side. In one sense, Allegri has had little to lose in giving them game time over the past several weeks. The club are out of the Champions League and a crack at the Scudetto is also out of the question after a horrendous three months. The kids could hardly do any worse than the more experienced pros had already done.

Samuel Iling-Jnr was also thrust into the spotlight by Allegri, first in the final 20 minutes against Benfica in Lisbon and against Lecce, and the English winger played with a refreshing directness, not to mention speed, that has been sorely missing in this Juve side for years. He provided an assist for Arkadiusz Milik in Lisbon and played a role in Fagioli’s curler down in Puglia. Only an injury to the 19-year-old’s ankle has kept him from featuring in the last several games. In light of the flashes of promise he’s shown, Juve are keen to tie him down with a new contract.

With the club posting astronomical financial losses for the 2021-22 season, to the tune of some €254m ($263m), and in light of their early exit from the Champions League, Juve’s overall finances are in dire shape. The days of splashing massive money on players like Ronaldo and Higuain are finished, and even if the club manage to qualify for the Champions League next season, money will be scarce. The likes of Juan Cuadrado, Alex Sandro and Adrien Rabiot are likely to leave the club at the end of the season when their contracts expire, but the saving on their wages won’t be directed into the club’s transfer budget. The future of the club lies in pushing through youth like Fagioli, Miretti, Iling-Jnr, Federico Gatti and Matias Soule – another player who has benefitted from the injury crisis.

Once the likes of Pogba, Paredes and Weston McKennie all return from injury, Allegri is likely to return to the status quo, but Paredes’ future at Juve isn’t secure past May, and McKennie could be offloaded should a suitable offer come in next summer.

If ever Juve needed to believe in a youth movement, the time is now. With a nucleus of players that includes the likes of Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli and Bremer all 25 and under, but already with vast experience in Serie A, players like Fagioli, Miretti, Iling-Jnr, Gatti and Soule can reinforce a new, hungrier Juventus over the coming years, one that relies less on buying ready made superstars on massive wages and more on potential promise.

The club need to adapt more of a Milan approach, especially with the club’s debt at record-breaking levels, than the current and chaotic philosophy. The Juve kids have shown they are alright, and the injury crisis may just be the best thing that’s happened to the club in a long time.