Locatelli, designated owner of the band, is only the ninth player on the squad in terms of minutes played. And Tudor reports a lack of leadership in the team…
“Juventus has changed, the world has changed…”. The admission came directly from Giorgio Chiellini a few minutes before the last Champions League match on the Real Madrid pitch. And in a team that struggles to rediscover its certainties as humanity clings to historic values, it stands out that even the role of the captain in Juve is no longer a totem. Of course, Locatelli is the designated one and we have not yet arrived at the “rotating” management of the wing implemented last season by Thiago Motta (who passed the baton from Danilo to Bremer, to Gatti, to Cambiaso, to Koopmeiners and to McKennie before entrusting it almost permanently to Manuel Locatelli), but the fact that even this year already three different players have worn the symbol of leadership of the team is a clear signal of a past that no longer exists and is struggling to return.
Juventus and the management of the captain’s armband
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Once upon a time there was a Juve in which the leaders of the dressing room were untouchable on the pitch: without going back too far, in the last twenty years it was not usual to see a match in which the Juventus captain was not first Del Piero and then Buffon and Chiellini. Since Danilo’s stormy farewell last season, however, this certainty has gradually faded, leading to the exaggeration of Motta’s management. The reasons are many: first of all, the whirlwind transfer sessions of recent years, which have emptied the team of all references. Suffice it to say that, in the squad, just 5 players have worn the Juventus shirt for at least 3 seasons: Perin, Pinsoglio, Gatti, Bremer and Vlahovic. All the others arrived from 2023 onwards or spent a few seasons on loan elsewhere (like Rugani, Kostic and McKennie). And then the need to reduce costs and take the path of sustainability pushed managers to lower the average age, with a consequent loss of experience. “Marchisio and I were lucky enough to have people who passed down certain values - Chiellini admitted -. The players have a big heart and are ready to take them on, now there is a generation of players over 30 who can handle the pressure”. Which, in some way, Tudor echoed: “Everyone must be leaders, from this point of view we are a little below what I would like, we have to grow – denounced the Juventus coach -. In the last 2 years a new team has been built, they have all found themselves together and there has been a lack of weight, of champions in the locker room”.
juve, the locatelli case
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In addition to the general considerations, there is also the particular one on Manuel Locatelli, who this season has already spent one game out of 10 completely on the bench and played just one full ninety minutes, being the ninth player (eighth of movement) for minutes played (532′, behind his teammates Thuram and Koopmeiners). Thus contributing to the turnover of the band. “The captain is such even when he isn’t playing, the fact that he came out first in the warm-up is important”, Chiellini defended him at the Bernabeiu. But even at Juve there is no longer the captain of the past…
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