Juve Next Gen is second to last in Serie C

The moment is complex, but the ranking needs to be contextualised. There are some aspects that tend to make the start of the season a little easier for Juventus Next Gen, currently penultimate in the standings in group B of Serie C. First of all: the Bianconeri have a game to recover, soon even two. In fact, the national breaks take away many players: positive for the essence of the project, a little less so for the continuous postponements that force us to face – successively – entire segments of the championship by playing every three days. Between 25 November and 23 December the Bianconeri will have to play eight matches, nine if they advance in the Lega Pro Italian Cup.

STRUCTURE

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The short ranking offers a good basis for keeping the focus on the growth of the group. Brambilla, in his second year of the project, finds himself working with a very young squad, calibrated at an average age of twenty: the recent promotion of Huijsen and Yildiz (both 2005) to the first team does not upset the current balance – also because the two will continue to drop in the weeks in which they don’t play minutes with Allegri – but it clearly removes two key elements from the ideal structure, which certainly cannot replace them with two other Primavera players of equal value. This year the substantial difference between group A (the one Juve faced in the first five years of the project) and group B also weighs heavily: in central Italy there are more teams equipped for a top championship, the majority will remain on the every last piece to have a privileged position in the play offs. Furthermore, we find ourselves facing much longer and therefore tiring trips.

classification

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No ranking anxiety for now, but maximum attention obviously. The club is focusing heavily on Next Gen and the project clearly needs to be safeguarded. What would happen if the Bianconeri finished at the bottom of the table? In the event of relegation, Juve would not have the possibility of registering for the Serie D championship (because it is structured for amateurs) and would obviously lose the right to register the second team for the Lega Pro championship. At that point they would have to submit an application for repechage again. to be reinserted into the Serie C championship, in case there were any vacancies, but queuing up in the special ranking for the second teams which – in the logic of the repechage – is alternated with that of all the other clubs. Last summer Atalanta Under 23 found, Milan would be reflecting on the project and would have priority over a relegated team: the risk of waiting is there.

climbing

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The history of the second team project gives rise to hope, given that even in previous years the start to the season was not the best. Especially for players who come from the Primavera championship, it takes some time to settle into the professional ranks. “At the beginning it’s a bit difficult to find the right fit – explained a few days ago Stivanello, a defender who Juve borrowed from Bologna Primavera -. Here everything is different because you can’t afford the same distractions you have when playing with peers of the same age.” Already in the past the great climbs for a place in the play offs have taken shape in the second part of the season: Juve has always participated in the last four years. In this sense it should be remembered that the second team could aspire to move up to Serie B: the regulation in fact provides that the second team does not compete in the same category as the first, but can participate up to the championship in its lower category.

path

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Juve has been working hard in recent weeks to improve and is confident in the quality of its squad. There are certainly important individuals, from Hasa (best player of the last Under 19 World Cup) to Turicchia (already in the Under 21 national team) to many others who are expected to make the leap onto the big scene very soon. A bit of regret but no tragedy for the points lost along the way (the defeat against Spal came in the last minute, the previous one in Rimini was characterized by a few too many defensive errors) and no controversy for some refereeing errors that ended up weighing on the result (clear offside in the goal that gave victory to Pontedera, presumed irregular position in the Gubbio goal, against which there was also a late penalty for Juve), the Bianconeri are convinced that the path can soon reward the work done in these first months of the season, despite knowing that the season will be quite complex.