As The 2022/23 Serie A Season Begins, Have Juventus Done Enough To Change?

There is no doubt that the version of Juventus who take the field on Monday night will be very different to the one that ended last season with just three wins in their final eight matches.

Yet the biggest question for the Bianconeri as the build up to their meeting with Sassuolo intensifies is simply this: have they changed enough?

For all the transfer business both in and out of their Turin headquarters, it remains unclear whether the overhaul has been of the substantial level required in order to change the fortunes of Italy’s most successful club.

Ending each of the past two summers in fourth place has been quite the slump for a side who won nine consecutive Serie A titles in the years that preceded those, adding in five Coppa Italia triumphs and two Champions League Final appearances for good measure.

If we look back to the opening day of 2021/22 they took on Udinese, obviously the most glaring absence from the 16 players used by Juve remains that of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Yet the Portugal international is hardly the only high profile name to have moved on, with Matthijs de Light – whose transfer was the subject of this previous column – going to Bayern Munich, while club legend Giorgio Chiellini opted for a new adventure in MLS with Los Angeles FC.

Paulo Dybala’s contract was not renewed, allowing the Argentinian forward to sign with AS Roma, while Alvaro Morata’s loan from Atletico Madrid also came to an end. Aaron Ramsey’s hugely disappointing time in black and white is also over, the Welshman agreeing to terminate his contract early.

With Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur going to Tottenham in January, and Federico Bernardeschi moving to Toronto FC, that means nine of the 16 players in action are no longer at the club.

There have been other exits too, with Luca Pellegrini and Filippo Ranocchia – two unused subs from that clash with Udinese – going on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt and Monza respectively.

Adrien Rabiot has been continually linked to Manchester United in recent weeks, so there has clearly been a huge amount of churn in the squad as they finally get their 2022/23 season underway.

Yet when boss Max Allegri hands in his team sheet, it is expected to still contain names like Alex Sandro, a left-back who epitomises the decline in standards at Juve over the past few years.

Once viewed as a top player in his position, his impact is now almost negligible and anyone who has watched the Bianconeri over the last three years can tell you he needs to be replaced.

It is a similar story in goal where Mattia Perin will deputise for the injured Wojiech Szczesny, while Daniele Rugani remains in the squad despite being deemed not good enough more than two years ago.

Indeed, it was the summer of 2020 when the defender was sent on loan to Rennes and then Cagliari – a team who were relegated from Serie A last season – only for both to decline the chance to sign him outright.

The fact he not only played, but wore the captain’s armband in a Juve friendly earlier this month is indicative of a major issue, one that allows players like him and Sandro to feel important when they should be being pushed to the exits.

At other clubs, Rugani wouldn’t even have been assigned a squad number, but instead he is given playing time that would be far more useful for other players, and even handed the honour of leading a team he simply isn’t good enough to represent.

For every major positive like signing Dusan Vlahovic last January or adding Filip Kostić this week, it is situations like this which leave that lingering question of whether the Old Lady has done enough.

When the starting XIs are announced at Juventus Stadium on Monday night, the answer is likely to be a resounding “no.”