[retired_felicityh]

And he is heading to Livorno.

[retired_felicityh]

The new Juve

Year after scandal, relegation, Juventus on way back

Alessandro Del Piero and Juventus will be back in Serie A for the 2007-08 season after taking the Serie B title earlier this year.

One of the most well-worn clichés in sports is that "staying at the top is tougher than getting there." It's also one of the most idiotic. If you're smart and have even the most basic resources at your disposal you can, once you attain success, parlay it into a virtuous cycle, making it even harder for the competition to knock you off your perch.

Juventus, of course, grew used to being on top, whether by fair means or foul (as was revealed in last summer's Calciopoli scandal), over the past decade. But that hegemony was smashed by the scandal, which saw Juve relegated to Serie B, publicly humiliated and forced to sell many of its stars. A year after its summer of shame, Juventus is back in Serie A, for what promises to be a very different experience.

The likes of Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, and, of course, Alessandro Del Piero are still around, as are David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved. But much of the midfield and defense have been radically overhauled. Plus, there is an entirely different aura around the club, mostly due to the choice of manager, Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Didier Deschamps (despite the Frenchman leading Juve to the Serie B title).

Ranieri beat out Gianluca Vialli for the job. Among the decisive factors, was that, unlike Vialli, the former Valencia boss had no ties to the old Juve, either as a player or as a coach. But another key factor had to do with image. Whatever else one may think of him, Ranieri is a genuinely likeable guy, a true gentleman who avoids controversy and radiates fair play.

Contrast this with the previous regime, the combination of manager Fabio Capello, chief executive Antonio Giraudo, vice president Roberto Bettega and general manger Luciano Moggi. Lapo Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family and one of the club's owners famously said about that quartet: "The fact that Moggi is the most likeable of the bunch says it all, doesn't it?"

Winning friends is only part of the new Juve. Soon after promotion it became clear that the club had to build for next season. What's more, it had to do it from a severely weakened position. Two years ago, Juventus attracted more sponsorship money than any other club in the world: most of those contracts were voided following relegation. Two seasons without the Champions League (last year and this year) are also quite a blow, as is the lost stadium revenue from the year in Serie B.

All of this left Juventus in a big financial hole, which meant this summer's transfer budget was rather limited. Those who expected the Bianconeri to roar back with a star-studded array of new faces are going to be disappointed. Instead, Juve went for guys who could help the team go to the next level which, at this stage, means -- at a minimum -- qualifying for the Champions' League.


Along the way, Juve has strengthened every department, albeit quietly. Jorge Andrade and Zdenek Grygera may not be box-office players but they are solid veterans who will tighten up the back four. The new faces in midfield have a similar profile: Tiago, formerly of Lyon and Chelsea, Hasan Salihamidzic, picked up on a free from Bayern, and the Argentine Sergio Almiron, one of Serie A's unsung heroes last year. All are solid, workman-like pros with the added bonus of not costing too much in terms of wages or transfer fees, much like Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup-winning center forward, nabbed on the cheap from Udinese.

For an aristocratic club like Juventus, it's quite the blue-collar revolution. It also leaves Ranieri with a very large squad, one which includes varied constituencies, from gifted up-and-comers (Domenico Criscito, Raffaele Palladino, Claudio Marchisio) to holdover superstars from the old Juve (Camoranesi, Del Piero, Nedved, Trezeguet and Buffon) to the new signings.

Keeping everyone happy and finding enough playing time in a season with no European action won't be easy. Particularly since you have to wonder how many of these guys fit into Ranieri's plan. In fact, it's an open secret that Nedved's decision to play another year was seen as something of a mixed blessing. Equally, the club tried to sell Camoranesi and Trezeguet but nobody came close to matching Juve's valuation. And so Juve re-signed them to long-term deals (through 2010 and 2011, respectively) with the club's spin doctors putting out the message that two "crucial cogs" to Juve's future had been put into place with the contract extensions.

Whether this was the case or whether Juve just found itself stuck with these guys and preferred giving them new deals rather than losing them on free transfers next summer remains to be seen. What does seem indisputable, however, is that Ranieri will have plenty to sink his teeth into this season. He's not just rebuilding a side. He and Juve's new executives are rebuilding a whole club, a brand, a way of doing business. And they are doing it at one of the most historic and tradition-rich clubs in the world, after making a clean break from its recent past. It's a tall order indeed.

That article is too good not to post.

[retired_MrScotlander]

Building time.

[retired_felicityh]

•Reports are suggesting that we are making a £3mil - £4.5mil offer for Senderos. Interesting as I haven't really payed any attention to him ecently in the prem.
•With Liverpool and Man U arguing over Heinze papers say we are going to hijack it and get him.
•Gianluigi Buffon wants to be the new Dino Zoff, play until he is 40 and be in the 2018 World Cup national team. Unlikely.
•Criscito has denied links with him moving to Napoli, we refused Genoa and we shall refuse the Azurri.

[retired_navy0614]

squad numbers are interesting...

[retired_felicityh]

Yeah because if we sign Quaresma he won't get a single digit number so Ill have to pay extra for the shirt. Del Piero also

[retired_felicityh]

Time for a rant.

I was just reading goal.com and came across an article titled: Juve Keen to Offload Chiellini. After reading what was written I would be very disgusted with our management.

It says we have a 14mil bid in for Giorgio and we are considering it and we find that if we get Heinze he will be a natural replacement. Chiellini does not play like Gaby, I would say he gets more forward and is faster with a good penalty area presence, I can't say that Heinze ticks all them boxes.

It also says we are looking for a young player to play there, well then, did nobody even bother to think that Chiellini is young? Or that he is settled at the club?

[QUOTE]Udinese's Cristian Zapata, PSV's Manuel da Costa, or Racing Santander's Ezequiel Garay.[QUOTE]

Those names were mentioned as being bought alongside Heinze. I'd accept 1 of those and that is only if we get rid of Legro to Turkey, but tbh, I'd rather have Legro and Chiellini so we don't spend and save them for next summer or even January.

Heinze is NOT what we need, we need to do what we did with Trez and keep our left back or we are just confirming what he said about big players. Trez is a big player, we do everything we can to keep him, Giorgio is not as big, we don't care much where he goes. If all is true, Trez is higher up in our managements eyes then the future and that is truly the worst thing for us when we need to rebuild for Europe and being our previous selves.

[retired_felicityh]

Juventus, Udinese and Inter are all looking to offer Chinese 22 year old Chen Tao a trial and possibly to take him up full time.

Earlier this month, Chen Tao expressed his disappointment at missing the chance to measure himself against seasoned European pros.

"I was indeed unlucky and it was very difficult to take,” he admitted. "I really wanted to train in Italy, it would have been a fundamental step in my career."

He is an attacker, and that is all I know.

[retired_MrScotlander]

Good in FM 2006, my friend said.

[retired_navy0614]

Once we've sold our players, I'm going to have a massively fun promotion game on FM - will setup all the arrivals to come in 2007, but will transfer everyone whose left immediately, leaving a completely barebones squad. Will be awesome :thup: