Juventus and Rome on the one hand, Naples and Milan on the other: the two opposite ways of doing the transfer market. Different speech for Inter, in the middle out of necessity
Born in Naples on 03/10/88, graduated in Philosophy and Politics at the Eastern University of Naples. He has been working for Tuttomercatoweb.com since 2008, and has been the deputy director since 2012
No sleep in the past 10 days. Nobody can be satisfied because this year, and never like this year, everyone still has something to do. The only exception among the big players is Lazio because Claudio Lotito, at Sarri’s request for a new left-back, continues to turn a deaf ear. But Lotito has moved and in advance, never like this summer he has trusted the ideas of his coach and has spent. Which, in truth, has happened almost everywhere.
But the new squads in the other cases are not finished and defined: Allegri awaits Depay and Paredes, Spalletti hopes that in the end Keylor Navas will take the place of Meret. Pioli expects another midfielder and another defender for his Milan, Inzaghi his central, Italian and Gasp at least two signings. And then Roma, which sees the plans of an already packed agenda become complicated after the injury at Wijnaldum, one of the blows of the summer. And here we return to the shots. Because starting from this term, used and abused, there are those who have followed a path and others the opposite.
The thin red thread that binds Allegri and Mourinho
For Max Allegri the reason for the lack of success last season was linked to the absence of ready-to-use champions. from top player capable of deciding the great matches, of carrying the team on their shoulders. For Allegri, Juventus in previous seasons had reasoned too much, thinking about the future and forgetting the present. But for the Livorno coach Juve must always think about the present and then a market has started in which to have or not have a scouting sector makes no difference: Pogba and Di Maria, Bremer and Kostic, all well-known and established players, directly from ‘ trainer.
Roma are also on the same wavelength. The bases are different, the squads as well, but after the success in the Conference League Mourinho abandoned the idea of the project to try to win immediately. With the Europa League as a goal, with the Scudetto as a not-so-unattainable dream: Matic and Dybala, Wijnaldum and (soon) Belotti: net of the Dutchman’s knockout, the Giallorossi is a market designed to win this season.
The revolution of Napoli, the continuity of Milan
Then there are Giuntoli and Maldini, the other side of the big market. The sun and the moon. This year Napoli really has a decision to make a revolution on the market and greeted, in one fell swoop, Mertens, Insigne, Koulibaly, Ospina, Ghoulam and (soon) Fabian Ruiz. Five starters from last season plus a full-back lost under the weight of injuries at the peak of his career. Many players to replace and the choice, for the key players, to go to the market almost never beaten. And here the scouting sector has made the difference: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a Georgian born in 2001, had been followed by the Neapolitans for at least two years and was well present in Giuntoli’s mind to replace Insigne when the former captain had not yet decided what to do. Kim Mina-jae, South Korean, is the other big bet: Koulibaly’s heir had in Fenerbahce the apex of a career previously spent between South Korea and China. Two purchases possible only if you have a large scouting sector and believe fully in his work.
Exactly the same philosophy of Milan, which in recent years has drawn more or less well-known players from the top hat of Moncada and Massara who soon became the protagonists of the Scudetto ride. The last and most expensive piece added was Charles Detelaere. The next one – Midtjylland permitting – could be another 2001 like Raphael Onyedika. Or 22-year-old Jean Onana of Bordeaux.
Immediate team on the one hand, medium-long term projects on the other. These are the two sides of the market that do not represent Inter, in both cases. Because the basic idea of Marotta and Ausilio was to add young people with great prospects to grow behind the big names but Asllani and Bellanova are just a hint of what could have been and was not. The rest is the result of market needs and opportunities, even as sensational as Romelu Lukaku. Defined choices to remain competitive today and then who knows, waiting for Zhang (or whoever will take the baton) to return to making different arguments.