Juventus Has Been Serie A's Best Performers In The Transfer Window

TURIN, ITALY - AUGUST 28: Juventus New Signing Teun Koopmeiners at Juventus headquarters on August ... [+] 28, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)

Juventus have had a transfer market for the ages. The Bianconeri, barring any major surprises, is likely to finish their window with the big-money signing of Teun Koopmeiners from Atalanta.

A proposed move for Jadon Sancho appears to have withered away in the dying days of the window, yet in truth it’s doubtful whether Juventus needed the Englishman, with Nico Gonzalez and Francisco Conceicao signed during the window. Moreover, the promotion of youngster Samuel Mbangula has given sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli food for thought. The Belgian has been among the bright spots in Juve’s two games of the new season, and his performances have convinced Thiago Motta that adding another winger to the ranks isn’t of the utmost importance.

Giuntoli is in his second summer transfer window as Juve director, and he’s surpassed all fan expectations, producing arguably the best transfer window from the club since the days of Luciano Moggi nearly 20 years ago. Eight new players have been added to the squad, with every position covered (barring center forward), and the starting XI has been considerably strengthened in comparison to last season, when Max Allegri took a very ordinary side to third in the table and won the Coppa Italia.

Douglas Luiz, Michele Di Gregorio, Khephren Thuram, Juan Cabal, Pierre Kalulu have all been signed over the past several months, in addition to Gonzalez, Conceição and Koopmeiners. As it stands, it will make Juve a very formidable presence in Serie A this season, but of course at this stage it’s unknown how each new signing will perform throughout the campaign. Douglas Luiz, one of the biggest signings of the summer, didn’t start either of Juve’s first two league games for example, coming off the bench in both.

Giuntoli has also been shrewd with his outgoings, managing to trim some of the deadweight in the squad and bringing the overall wage bill down in the process. Alex Sandro, Adrien Rabiot and Wojciech Szczesny have all been let go by the club, with each of the three on wages Juve simply cannot afford in a post-pandemic landscape. Mattia De Sciglio, who has been a peripheral figure at the club for years, has also finally been moved on, with the right-back joining Empoli.

Giuntoli has also had to make some painful moves in the window. Matias Soule has been viewed as a potential world class talent by some, but in order to bring in the kind of players Motta wanted, Soule was forced to be the sacrificial lamb, and was sold to Roma early in the window in order to raise funds. Soule, nor Motta, wanted the Argentine youngster to go, but the deal had to be done. Other youngsters also left such as Samuel Iling Jnr and Enzo Barrenechea, who both went to Aston Villa as part of the Douglas Luiz deal. Giuntoli also added resell clauses into several deals, with the likes of Dean Huijsen, Gianluca Frabotta and Facundo Gonzalez being allowed to leave for slightly cheaper but with a percentage of a future sale going back to Juve should they impress in their new clubs.

Giuntoli has managed to trim a lot of the fat from the bloated Fabio Paratici days, when Juve were handing out massive contracts and submerging the club in in deals that were ill-advised.

For the first time in almost a decade the club has a functioning midfield again, and now the pressure is on Motta to make all the new signings gel and return Juve back to the summit of the Italian game for the first time in five years.

The window doesn’t end until late on August 30, but as pertains to Serie A, Juventus has performed the best in the transfer market, regardless of whether it makes more deals or not.

It feels like the old Moggi days in Turin once more.