Juventus has always been one of Serie A’s biggest spenders, even during the last two decades when the league has lost some of its financial lustre.
Prior to the turn of the century, Juventus also spent big in the pursuit of success, spending mega bucks to sign superstars like Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Pavel Nedved over time.
However, Juventus’ success has dried up somewhat of late, despite the Old Lady continuing to spend big. So, do the side need to adjust their transfer strategy, or should they continue to invest heavily in squad development?
Addressing Juventus’ Business Since 2018/19
Juventus have won four trophies since the beginning of the 2018/19 season, including two Serie titles (2018/19 and 2019/20), one Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa Italiana.
However, the Old Lady have failed to win a league title for two years now, while this run looks set to be extended with the side currently languishing in eighth in Serie A and trailing leaders Napoli by 10 points after just 10 games.
This is despite a €102.40 million plus spending spree in the summer, which saw the acquisition of Torino’s Brazilian defender Bremer and Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Filip Kostić.
Experienced Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik was also signed from Marseille, while Paul Pogba arrived on a free transfer (on considerable salary) and PSG midfielder Leandro Paredes joined on loan.
This took Juve’s spending since the summer of 2018 to nearly €800 million, with other high-profile signings including Dusan Vlahovic ($81 million), Matthijs de Ligt (€85.5 million), Cristiano Ronaldo (€117 million) and Arthur Melo (€76 million).
This represents a huge outlay, but one that has arguably failed to deliver the requisite level of success either domestically or in European competition over the last four years.
Gambling Big on Unproven Players
Aside from the legendary Ronaldo, most of the players listed above are relatively unknown and untested at the highest level, suggesting that Juventus has been gambling huge sums of cash in the pursuit of success.
They’d have arguably been better served by betting at the gopoker.global site given the return on their investment, especially as neither Ronaldo, de Ligt or Melo remain at the club (the latter is on loan at Liverpool at present but looks to be on his way out of Juventus permanently).
Ultimately, spending big on a combination of experienced and younger, unproven players is a high-risk strategy that can be justified when a team continues to win consistently, especially if they’re able to claim domestic titles and compete to a high level in Europe.
However, Juventus look likely to end this season without a Serie A title for the third successive campaign, while the side is becoming increasingly uncompetitive in Europe with every passing season (the team last progressed beyond the second round of the UCL in 2018/19).
So, rather than chasing past glories by spending over the odds for unproven players, Juventus should potentially consider adjusting their transfer policy and investing in less in young, hungry and targeted players who can represent the team over a period of years.
This season could be a catalyst for this, especially if Juve go trophyless once again and finish outside of the Champions League places.
