Left and right, as an attacking midfielder and as a sole striker. Nico Gonzalez still played little, but was everywhere in Juventus’ attack. The nine total appearances have not yet met expectations for a player in whom 33 million euros plus bonuses have been invested, however – now that he is finally back – the Argentine needs space. The former Fiorentina player showed that he wanted it ferociously with the attitude with which he returned from the muscle injury and at the same time he demonstrated that he deserved it with two goals in the last two matches: the first for morale, the lob of the 4-0 against Cagliari in the Italian Cupand the second for points in the standings thanks to Monza’s push for the 1-2 with which the Bianconeri returned to winning ways in Serie A. With an extremely busy and demanding calendar, there will be no shortage of place on the pitch for Nico, but the question Thiago Motta is asking himself is: where?
At the crossroads
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“To help the team I’m also a goalkeeper,” joked the player after Monza-Juventus with the man of the match award in his hands, but beyond the irony, the impression is that Gonzalez intends to draw on all the his availability to really get his first season in black and white off the ground. In the summer the technical director Cristiano Giuntoli sat down with Fiorentina for a tug of war to make him the starting right winger, but then the lesion of the rectus femoris in his right thigh kept him out of action for two and a half months and Francisco Conceiçao blossomed in that role. Fresh from the launch of a “five-star” Juventus with the retreat of Teun Koopmeiners to the midfield and the centralization of Nico, Motta has in fact taken a new path. In the middle of the attacking midfield, behind Dusan Vlahovic, the Argentine played a leading game and verified a new solution for the coach, who had no problem expressing his satisfaction at the return of an important man. He praised his talent, versatility and personality, now ready to show it again on Sunday against his former team, Fiorentina. From the center Nico can unleash his dribbling and unpredictability to shoot, to support the center forward and to trigger the wingers, but it would be naive to take this new position for granted. He can return to the right, swap with Kenan Yildiz to start on the left or replace Vlahovic as center forward. The important thing is that you play: the question of “where” is still very open.