The future of Juve depends on the more than 4,000 minutes spent on the pitch by the youngsters up until now. The change of course compared to the past is clear, as Allegri himself has highlighted several times in recent months. Injuries in the first few months of the year opened up important gaps, the club and coach at a certain point of the season decided to start a new cycle by diversifying choices in favor of those who can guarantee a greater perspective. Hence the constant growth of Miretti, the most present since last year, and the rise of Fagioli, who in recent months has become a fundamental asset on the Juventus chessboard. And again the growing playing time of Soulé, the discoveries of Iling and Barrenechea. Not to mention Kean, who is still the result of work done over many years in the club’s youth sector, where there is still a lot of future prospects.
MIRETTI AND BEANS
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Miretti’s path is what every player in the youth sector dreams of. In unsuspecting times, when he had to choose between Juve and Turin at a very young age to live his first adventure among the rookies, he decided on the black and white shirt because the club offered him a more comfortable transport service. A detail that will make the difference many years later: today the midfielder born in 2003 is Allegri’s most fielded youngster (23 appearances) and above all the one who has the most room for growth at a high level. It is a traditional midfielder, with a peculiarity regarding the position: Fabio loves to play on the left to keep his foot, the right, towards the inside of the pitch. The choice allows him to be able to share the field with Fagioli, who from the end of October onwards has become central to the Juventus project and almost an indispensable part of midfield. Nicolò lined up 22 appearances, playing almost always. Allegri proposes him as an insertion midfielder because he has the qualities to do it, but he is convinced that in the future he will be able to become a great director. Meanwhile, since he’s been on the field, Locatelli has also improved a lot in performance. The class of 2001 aims for the 2026 World Cup.
THE OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE
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The management of Soulé and Barrenechea is probably the most significant, straddling the first and second team. Both are increasing their playing time with Allegri, who has also offered them as starters in important matches (Barrenechea in the derby with Torino, Soulé at the San Siro against Inter), maintaining good condition thanks to the games played in the Next Gen during the weeks off . They both grew up in black and white since the Primavera: Soulé then burned the stage of the second team earning almost immediate promotion to first team, Barrenechea instead took advantage of the Under 23 team to recover from a bad injury that kept him out for a year: now who has returned to his level, offers Allegri the opportunity to be able to deploy a structured midfielder in front of the defence, just the way he likes it. To the 1,244 minutes played by Miretti and 1,486 by Fagioli, must therefore be added the 437 played by Soulé (in 17 appearances) and the 121 played by Barrenechea (in 4 appearances). The picture is completed with 232 minutes of Iling (in 11 appearances) which was also the most welcome surprise at the end of 2022. While Barbieri earned his debut in the Champions League by playing a couple of minutes against PSG.
PROSPECT
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The future of these guys must align with Kean’s path, who was sold by Juve at different times and then – following a change of strategy – reacquired in the squad with more experience. The class of 2000, who grew up like Miretti in the Juve nursery since he was a child, is now to all intents and purposes considered a mature first team footballer, like Vlahovic (the same age, but with a different path) and all the others. The human material that is coming up in the second team promises, the choices in the summer, however, will have to be weighted and calibrated on the next growth steps necessary to aspire to a future in a top club. In addition to the guys already mentioned above, seven others had the opportunity to play a few games off the bench this year: Garofani (6), Compagnon (3), Crespi (1), Da Graca (1), Riccio (1), Scaglia ( 1), Sekulov (1). But there is also a nice group born in 2005 who are taking their first steps among the professionals dreaming of a call from the first team. On the other hand, the youth structure of the club is working to offer as many resources as possible in the near future, so as to be able to choose to keep the best and allocate the remainder to the outgoing market to raise cash.
March 31 – 13:08
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