Where Do Juventus And Max Allegri Go From Here?

What now for Max Allegri and Juventus?

On a night in which three Italian sides played in European competition and the biggest of them failed to advance to a final, the post-mortem on another trophy-less season for Juve is well under way.

Allegri becomes the first coach since Rino Marchesi in the late 1980s to go two seasons without winning a trophy with The Old Lady. Then, Marchesi had to deal with the waning powers of Michel Platini, coupled with the might of Diego Maradona’s Napoli and Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan. On the field, Allegri hasn’t faced anything close to that kind of opposition, the challenges have come away from the pitch.

Allegri reacted brilliantly in steadying the ship in the aftermath of Juve’s 15 point deduction earlier in the year. The Tuscan repeated time and again that all he and his players could do is win on the pitch, and most of the time this is what they did.

Yet Juve have never looked assured during games, even when winning. They always did just about enough to win, scraping by in games that they should’ve been winning comfortably.

The style of play under Allegri hasn’t been for the weak hearted neither. Yet it’s also fair to say that perpetual injuries to all of his key players hasn’t helped the cause. Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa, all of whom were expected to carry the creative burden at the onset of the season, have barely played together. Pogba has barely played at all, with his one and only start lasting just 23 minutes. Chiesa is still far off from the player he was pre-ACL injury and was culpable for Sevilla’s winner. Di Maria’s form has dipped in the spring, with the Argentine arguably Allegri’s best performer just after the World Cup break.

The absence of those three for vast spells of the season has not only left Allegri with a creative void he’s struggled to fill, but it’s also isolated Dusan Vlahovic for much of the season, with the Serb looking lost in games with little-to-no credible service.

Allegri has, to his credit, brought through several youngsters this season who have all performed. Nicolo Fagioli, Fabio Miretti and Samuel Iling-Junior, all born this century, have demonstrated they are good enough to wear the shirt and each have bright futures.

#AllegriOut has been trending on social media at various times over the past few months. In light of the Sevilla defeat, with Juve having a squad two-and-a-half times more expensive than their opponents, the critics have once again sharpened their knives.

Yet is sacking Allegri the best option? With the very distinct possibility of more sanctions coming the club’s way over the course of the summer and the turmoil that will create, Allegri is arguably the safest pair of hands the club could appoint in the short-term.

Juve could also face UEFA
EFA
sanctions, and a year out of Europe isn’t out of the question at this stage. There are also financial issues to consider with sacking Allegri. He’s the highest paid coach in the league, earning €7m net per-season, therefore sacking him and his staff with two years remaining on his contract would prove very costly.

With club debt still over the €200m ($216m) mark, big earners likely allowed to leave or be sold in the summer and move towards a youth movement prioritised ahead of next season, it could be argued that dismissing Allegri isn’t the answer.

And while there’s been a lot of issues off-the-field that has influenced results, it’s also true that Allegri reactive approach to games isn’t good enough. The credit banked due to his all-dominating first spell in the 2010s is fast running out. There’s also the question of who could come in to replace him. Vincenzo Italiano? Roberto De Zerbi? The return of Antonio Conte?

What isn’t up for debate is that Allegri has gone two years without a trophy, something not achieved at Juve for 35 years. Marchesi didn’t make it past his second season, the question is will Allegri.