Juventus have played a starring role in this summer’s transfer window, though probably not for the reasons that fans of the Bianconeri would have hoped. Massimiliano Allegri’s side still have a lot of issues that the returning coach will need to resolve, and fast, but Moise Kean’s arrival has allowed them to find a temporary fix for one.
Kean is not Cristiano Ronaldo by any stretch of the imagination. He’s not likely to score 30 goals for Juventus this season, but he doesn’t necessarily need to. Instead, he’ll offer them an alternative option in attack and provide something different to Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala.
Homecoming
Juventus chose to emphasise that their signing of Kean was a move that saw one of their own return home, which is a sentiment that a lot of their supporters will share.
His 2019 exit to Everton left a number of fans confused and frustrated, having enjoyed watching Kean come through and take his first steps in Serie A as a Juventus player – both at the club and out on loan at Hellas Verona.
“Not a team”
As Giorgio Chiellini and Massimiliano Allegri watched Juventus’ 1-0 loss to Empoli from the sidelines over the weekend, the veteran defender was seen saying “this isn’t a team” to his coach. Damning as that is for those on the pitch, that Allegri’s reaction suggested he agreed with Chiellini was worse.
Losing Cristiano Ronaldo and replacing him with Kean is likely to make Juventus more team-oriented and less built to accommodate an individual, while Manuel Locatelli should also help things to flow a little more fluidly once he has found full fitness and a regular place in the XI.
Difficulties in Kean’s first spell.
A teenager when he broke onto the scene, Kean didn’t always have it easy in Italian football. Having been the victim of racist abuse away to Cagliari, then scoring and bravely standing in front of and staring down his abusers, teammate Leonardo Bonucci suggested that Kean was partially to blame for what had happened.
While there hasn’t been any public bad blood between Kean and Bonucci, their reunion in Turin is an interesting one.
