Juve Next Gen, the new Yildiz: Gil, Puczka, Owusu, Faticanti

Juve Next Gen’s season is record breaking. Brambilla’s team ended the regular season in fifth place in group B of Serie C: this is their best position ever. The Bianconeri will play the first match of the playoffs at home against Vis Pesaro, but there are many other positive aspects that emerge at the end of the eighth year of the second team project, starting with the number of talents ready to make the leap to the big leagues. In Yildiz’s wake there are several, partly known for having already tasted the first team with some call-ups: from Gil (defender born in 2009) to Puczka (left back 2005) up to Owusu (midfielder born in 2005) and Faticanti (midfielder born in 2004). But an excellent impact also came from the players acquired in the January transfer market: Licina, Gunduz and Oboavwoduo.

SATISFACTION

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It was a particularly productive year for Juve’s second team, the result of work that brought together knowledge of the category and the most delicate phases of the transition of young people from the youth sector to professionalism. “Sometimes it almost seems obvious, but that’s not the case – said sports director Claudio Chiellini -, there are many difficulties in competing among professionals with an Under 23 team and therefore this fifth place in the standings and access to the playoffs is a source of great satisfaction which we will face with enthusiasm and with the desire to try to do well, knowing that we have had an important year anyway”. The fruits of this year’s work will emerge in the long term: “Beyond the placing, the satisfaction is in seeing the improvements of the boys compared to the beginning of the season: a maturation that I want to underline because in the last few weeks, after Italy’s elimination from the World Cup, there has been a lot of talk, perhaps even too much, sometimes underlining that the Under 23 project is not useful for Italian football”, the director’s idea.

PASSEPARTOUT

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Thanks to the second team, Juve is present in world markets to get its hands on talents looking for a springboard into the football that matters. A master key that over the years has extended the list of protagonists on the European scene, from the example of Huijsen (who today wears the Real Madrid shirt) to that of Muharemovic (now ready to move to a top club). “This year we had around fifteen players who played in European cups and who in previous years were part of the Juventus Next Gen; around thirty players in Serie A or in the first international leagues, another thirty in Serie B, another thirty in the third division. All of whom are carrying forward the values of seriousness and that mentality that they learned at Juventus. And I underline – continued Chiellini – not only the players, but also the managers (like Ottolini and Manna, ed.), the coaches and professionals who work in the world of football, who grow in virtuous environments such as that of Juventus or other Italian teams and also thanks to the Under 23 path they then interface in the world of football with other teams”.