Tudor successor
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Luciano Spalletti is the new coach of Juventus Turin and succeeds Igor Tudor, who was dismissed on Monday. As the Bianconeri announced, the SSC Napoli champion coach from 2023 has initially signed a contract until the end of the season. This should automatically be extended by one year when qualifying for the Champions League.
The 66-year-old Italian last looked after his country’s national team until June after leaving Naples to take a break following the first Scudetto since the Diego Maradona era in the summer of 2023. However, after direct World Cup qualification came into doubt due to a 3-0 defeat in Norway, he was replaced by former world champion Gennaro Gattuso. Before the SSC, Spalletti had already coached AS Roma, Inter Milan and Udinese Calcio twice in Serie A.
Reserve coach Massimo Brambilla sat on the bench against coach Kosta Runjaic’s team on Wednesday and won 3-1, their first win since mid-September. Most recently there were three competitive defeats in a row and four games without a goal of their own – this became a problem for Tudor. He only took over from Thiago Motta in the spring and also received a contract extension after a successful return to the premier class.
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Spalletti, known for his meticulousness, who had established an outstanding defensive and offensive system in Naples, is the more experienced variant compared to Edin Terzic and Raffaele Palladino, who were also previously traded and who once became a professional at Juventus. In Italy, he is expected to implement the 4-3-3 system he perfected during his SSC days at Juventus. In order to stabilize the defense, Tudor switched from Motta’s four-man chain to a three-man chain after taking over.
Last summer, Juventus primarily strengthened the offensive and signed Francisco Conceição (22) and Nico González (27) on loan and brought in Herford-born Edon Zhegrova (26), who had hardly been given a chance so far, Loïs Openda (25) from Leipzig, and Jonathan David (25) on a free transfer. However, this did not yet lead to more penetration in front of the opponent’s goal; Openda, for example, is still without any scorer points.