It was an exhilarating season in the Serie A, with little battles going all around the table, however, for now Bettor.com will analyse the steals of the season.
Andrea Pirlo
Antonio Conte would be considering himself to be the luckiest manager in the Serie A, when he signed Andrea Pirlo on a free transfer from rivals, AC Milan. In what was a brilliant move on the part of Conte, it was definitely a terrible choice by his Milanello
counterpart, Massimiliano Allegri, who deemed the player surplus to requirements at the club.
Pirlo would come to haunt his club in more ways than one, and leaving aside the fact that the maestro guided the Juve team to their first Scudetto win after the Calciopoli incident, the Rossoneri missed his presence on the field of play as well.
Milan could only offer him another year’s extension to the contract, and given his age (32 at the time), most clubs opt to offer a solitary year to ageing stars. However, given the quality and loyalty of the former Rossoneri star, Diavolo should have been
more considerate when viewing Pirlo’s case.
Milan suffered injuries to key players throughout the season, and had Allegri still kept faith in the World Cup winning star, their story for the season might have been entirely different. Pirlo was a constant fixture in Conte’s XI and helped the Turin side
unlock many rigid defences throughout the course of the campaign.
Before getting to the statistical part of his contribution to the club, a reflection on the clubs past performances need to be reviewed.
The Bianconeri had finished in the seventh position for the previous two seasons before Pirlo’s arrival. Even though it would be naive to attribute Juventus’ success this season solely to the performances by the Italian national, saying that he played a
big part in their success would be justified.
Andrea Pirlo arrived on a free transfer to the club and signed a contract which tied the free agent to the club untll 2014. Juventus pay the pass master 3.5 million euros a year; when at Milan he was earning 5.5 million euros, second only to the mammoth
salary of Ibrahimovic, which is 9 million euros (effectively making him the highest paid Serie A star).
Pirlo’s first match in the Serie A came against the season opener of Juventus against Parma; Pirlo ended the match with two assists.
Pirlo showed his versatility and adaptability as Conte made many changes to his Juventus formation on quite a number of occasions. He proved his class by adapting to the various formations. From 4-2-4 to 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-4-1, he played like a thorough professional
and helped his team in the best way he knows. Conte finally settled altering between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formations, and Pirlo was ever present in all the various formations’ requirements.
The Italian international player was the provider of the most assists in the 2011/2012 Serie A season, assisting 13 times. He was also on the score sheet a total of three times. He added another feather in his hat by being named in the Serie A “Team of the
Year”.
Milan will be ruing their decision to part ways with the regista, as he proved that he still has it within him to play at the top level.
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