Italian Serie A News: Juventus Strengthening Their Midfield
The new Serie A season is starting from this weekend, and the teams are lining up for the upcoming battles. Everyone’s main target is Rafael Benitez’s Inter Milan, who have been the champions of Italy for a very long time now. Their main rivals are Juventus, as the Torino side have their reputation of being the most successful club in Italy at stake. The Bianconeri will start their campaign on Sunday with a match against Bari.
Although the preparations are almost complete ahead of the new season, the clubs are trying hard to fill the gaps left by the exit of big players. Luigi Delneri, the boss of Juventus, finds himself in a similar kind of situation. Although he still has the services of his star striker, Alessandro Del Piero, and world class keeper, Gianluigi Buffon, a void has been created since Pavel Nedved left the club. Therefore, Luigi is focusing on signing some new midfielders, probably someone with enough skill to fill that gap.
Therefore, Juventus has recently agreed to a deal with CSKA Moscow to sign their Serbian midfielder, Milos Krasic. The deal is said to be worth €15M, payable in three instalments over three seasons. The Serbian has reached his new destination and is looking set for his debut on Sunday.
Although Krasic seems to be far from being a player like Nedved, he is still considered as a star player on the rise. In fact, his original position is the right flank, while Nedved loved to play a central midfielder role in Juventus. Nevertheless, a quality player is being replaced by another quality player, and Krasic still has a lot of room for improvement.
Krasic had strong credentials before joining Juventus. He scored 9 goals in 26 league games last year, while in Europe he was better, as he scored 4 goals in 10 matches. He was also part of the Serbian national side, which had a dream run in reaching the group stages of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. However, their World Cup campaign ended prematurely, as Serbia failed to go past the group stages. Nevertheless, Krasic was on the watch-list of Juventus for a long time now, although his arrival is slightly delayed than expected.
Nevertheless, Krasic would be a great addition to Juventus’ squad. He is known for his exceptional dribbling skills and pace. This would strengthen Juventus’ attacking options, as they did not possess such a threat on their wings. Also, Krasic is known for his good technique, which would help him in scoring goals for his club as well. At this moment, Juventus will desperately require their midfielders to score some goals for the team, as their strikers are having problems of their own.
Although Krasic would have been enough for Juventus, as they have other quality players in their midfield, Luigi did not stop here. In another move, Juventus has decided to get Alberto Aquilani on loan from his English side Liverpool. Aquilani went to Liverpool from AS Roma last year, but he missed most of the matches owing to an injury. At the moment, he has been rendered as almost useless for Roy Hodgson, Liverpool’s manager. Therefore, he has been sent back to Italy, on a condition that Juventus would bear his wages throughout the year.
However, there is another condition attached with this deal: Juventus will be able to buy the player in the next season, on paying an amount of €17M. In a way, this deal could prove good for Aquilani, who would be happy to be backed by some Italian fans before he is able to recover from his lack of form. For Juventus, this deal might not bear any fruits as they would have liked.
There is another weakness that should have worried Luigi, especially after signing Krasic. There are problems with the fitness of strikers; a good striker would have been a better addition for the club. The midfield looks good now; however, the only worry would be the fitness issues, which Luigi would like to avoid in order to take the club to its highest levels.
Tags: