“From Openda to the João Mario mystery: Juve, you spent 70 million for one goal and two assists.” Difficult to be sharper than this title of La Gazzetta dello Sportwho decided to take a new look at the ridiculous contribution of summer recruits. Against Torino on Saturday, new coach Luciano Spalletti once again chose to trust Dusan Vlahovic, although he suffered a back injury as he revealed at a press conference, the man who was nevertheless pushed to leave in recent months due to his contractual situation. On the bench therefore, Jonathan David and Lois Openda, two attackers supposed to embody the revival of the Old Lady.
Add to these two names the recruitment of Edon Zhegrova and the attacking fullback João Mario, and you therefore obtain the sum of €70 million. For 1 goal, scored by Jonathan David during the first day of Serie A against Parma, and 2 assists (1 for David, 1 for Joao Mario). In addition to their ineffectiveness, it is now their place in the rotation that is being discussed. Because Spalletti does not seem to have much confidence in them. While he had played 57% of the time with Igor Tudor, dismissed from his position, David increased to 13% with the new coach. Openda, who has not scored a single goal for club or national team since April 11, also plays as little as ever. As for Zhegrova, who needed to get back into rhythm, he came on during the last two matches, for around twenty minutes.
Rookies don’t play
The cost/benefit ratio of summer recruitment is therefore clearly pointed out, and when we look at the team aligned by Spalletti against Torino, it is based on the recruitments of previous years: the Giuntoli era (Di Gregorio, Kalulu, Koopmeiners, Thuram, Conceiçao), that of the former sports director Federico Cherubini (Gatti, Locatelli, Cambiaso, Yildiz, Vlahovic) and even from the Paratici era (Rugani and McKennie). All the real newcomers (we do not count purchases following loans from past seasons) have neither playing time nor impact.
Officially, Spalletti is not excluding anyone, he is at the start of his mandate and continues his staff review. He has already announced that he wants to change his tactical scheme, currently 3-4-2-1, towards a 4-3-3 or a two-attacker system, which could revive David and Openda. But the latter are obliged to prepare for the future, and several rumors have for example already reported a possible departure in January of Jonathan David, who has the second highest salary at Juventus.
