Juventus Turin’s already weak start to the season has recently deteriorated further. In the league you are in the gray middle field, in the Champions League there is a risk of being eliminated. So now the situation is getting even more turbulent. Five names are making the rounds as potential successors to Massimiliano Allegri.
A look at the bare numbers is enough to see how much Juventus is grinding in the gears. In the league, eighth place in the table after the first nine games is the bitter reality. It is already seven points behind the first place in the Champions League.
Speaking of the premier class: there is a risk of the group being eliminated. Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica lead Group H with eight points each. With only two games left, and against the two favourites, Torino are level on points with Maccabi Haifa, just three points down. An all-round tense situation that affects both the team and the coach.
The team is currently in a short training camp. A variant of training that is often used in Germany when important decisive games are imminent – such as the relegation. The background is said to be the same: Juve should continue to find themselves as a team, strengthen cohesion and be able to train with full concentration.
On Saturday evening, they will face city neighbors FC Turin, who are only two points behind the series champions from 2011 to 2020.
But even this short training camp brings new unrest in the team: It can be heard from Italy that the players sometimes have very different opinions on this step. The criticism is also aimed at the fact that injured players did not travel at all. But if it’s about bonding as a team, they could have gone without training normally. Accordingly, this step is sometimes perceived as a punishment.
This tense and mostly negative mood among the players may also have something to do with the fact that they have recently become more of a focus. In recent weeks there has been more criticism of the team and individual players than of coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Of course, the coach is not left out in the criticism, the results so far are simply too bad and by no means satisfactory. But the mood is currently directed more against the team than there is a mere focus on the coach.
And yet the club management has to deal with any successors. After all, you can’t exchange various players – Allegri will have to pack his things instead. He only returned about a year and a half ago after winning five consecutive championships with Juve between 2014 and 2019.
Despite the last pledge of allegiance (90min reported), five names are already being traded that could follow the 55-year-old if there is no trend reversal in the next few weeks.
According to Tuttosport, Mauricio Pochettino is the favorite to be the potential Allegri successor. Most recently, the Argentine was active at PSG. Thomas Tuchel is also among the candidates, as is Rafael Benitez. Former Italy coach Cesare Prandelli and Eusebio De Francesco are also traded.
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Juventus situation grows more turbulent – 5 candidates for Allegri legacy.
