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It doesn’t take long to realize that Juventus’ social media team are currently working with a limited playbook. I say this because sometimes when some of your top picks for the best practice photos of the day according to Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie come from players who didn’t play much last season or who weren’t even doing much last season. part of the team (hello, Daniele Rugani!), you are thin picks.
Now, while I’m sure youngster Nicolo Fagioli has enjoyed seeing his photos included in the various social media posts over the past few days since starting pre-season training for Juventus, there is some something a little important to get out of the lack of numbers as a result of the Euro and the Copa America.
You see, Fagioli, the latest in a long line of youngsters that we were hoping to be the next primavera player to make an impact on the senior squad after Claudio Marchisio, has the opportunity to impress while waiting for his teammates to arrive from their extended vacation. And when it comes to Fagioli trying to impress, he’s going to try to do it with a manager who talked a lot about him during his first stint with the club.
With so many regulars absent and new football GM Federico Cherbuini still trying to meet Juventus’ need for a midfielder like, say, Manuel Locatelli, Fagioli is going to have the chance to show what he’s got. ‘acts. This is something that Tuttosport (via VecchiaSignora.com) watched each other as Max Allegri secured another round of double sessions at Continassa.
Think about it for a moment. Aside from McKennie’s involvement in preseason training, here’s what other Juve midfielders are currently doing:
- Rodrigo Bentancur – vacation after Copa America
- Aaron Ramsey – vacation after Euro 2020
- Adrien Rabiot – holidays after Euro 2020
- Arthur – just had surgery and will be missing the next three months
Translation: This is a chance for Fagioli to impress Allegri along with all the other midfielders apart from McKennie not available as they are either on a beach somewhere or within days of major surgery.
Of course, a few weeks without many other names around you in training won’t be the end of Fagioli’s career at Juventus. But for a player in whom Allegri clearly saw a future when Fagioli was a tiny teenager climbing the ranks of the primavera squad, the chance to work directly with his new manager is something that is going to be very valuable.
And, as far as we know, could be something that gives him some sort of role during the first half of the season.
This is mainly due to the fact that we know Arthur will be out for the next three months, and at least the last two of those months will come when actual games take place. It’s quite possible that the duration of Arthur’s injury means that including him in the roster for the Champions League would be misguided. And knowing what Juve’s finances are currently and how the club needed an influx of capital of € 400m to cover losses expected over the next two years due to the pandemic, it’s not like bringing in a short-term replacement for Arthur would be as easy as it could have been in previous summers.
So here we have a player who is clearly talented at Fagioli, already on the roster and clearly ready for some sort of role on a Serie A roster, it won’t cost you anything more than what his annual salary already is. If Allegri has as much faith in 20-year-old Italian as you can hear, so maybe some are arguing that a replacement for Arthur is an internal fix rather than spending money on the transfer market.
Either way, Fagioli will have plenty of time to work with Allegri before the biggest names start arriving at Continassa after their post-Euro 2020 vacation. This means more time for Allegri to potentially focus on the creation of a role for Fagioli within the team. And that also means more chances, despite the limited numbers currently available, of trying to force the problem into Juventus’ midfielder rotation.
You know, having a real role in the first team this season under Allegri. Not what we saw last season when he played in a small number of games despite being called up for much of the season only to be glued to the bench most of the time.
We may not be using the expression “Baby Fagioli enchants” like Tuttosport did in a headline for a gallery from Monday’s practice, but if he’s ‘enchanting’ that must mean there are good things in store for the kid for the rest of the day. ‘pre-season training and potentially at the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
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