“Bentornato, Max!”. With that Welcome back Juventus announced the return of Allegri to Turin. The technician chose the Vecchia Signora ahead of a Real Madrid who waited too long. It will not be an easy return, there is a lot of stone to chip. However, the whole bianconero has seen his tyranny in Serie A fly after nine Scudetti in a row. The settings will be varied, but It seems that the first thing Allegri wants to recalibrate is the Juve engine room and for this he has an old acquaintance in mind: Manuel Locatelli.
One of the main problems that Pirlo has faced in his time on the bench bianconero It has been to find a footballer to link lines, to feed the team's forwards. That which made him earn the nickname of Teacher and that he failed to instill in his pupils. Arthur was the only footballer with creative enough characteristics to play that role, but the Brazilian has had a too flat season. Neither Rabiot, nor Ramsey, nor Betancur, nor McKennie are that type of footballer that Locatelli is. And therefore, the Sassuolo, as reported La Gazzetta dello Sport, is Allegri's first request.
The technician knows him well. However, it was he who brought a young 16-year-old Locatelli to training for the first team, to learn from Kaká or Montolivo. At San Siro, Manuel stood out as the great promise to hold on to in times of darkness, but his light was fading until he had to leave the team. With the neroverdi has regained its shine and under the wing of De Zerbi has become one of the best orchestral directives of the Serie A. Something that a Mancini will also take advantage of, which has made him a fixture of the Azzurra.
Comparison between Locatelli, Rabiot and Arthur. BeSoccer Pro
Sassuolo is aware of how difficult it will be to retain a player who has already declared that he feels ready to go one step further. “I dream of playing the Champions League”, He stated when the season dawned, while a few dates ago he opened the door to PSG, he is also interested in his services: “I am open to an experience outside of Italy (…) Seeing Verratti, Florenzi and Kean triumph, makes you want to do it too. “Of course, they will not give their arm to twist. With a contract until 2023, the urgencies to see him go at zero cost are still far away and therefore, as the quoted medium, They will ask for an amount close to 40 million euros, a similar figure at 42 market value in which BeSoccer, as an average of other specialized portals, estimates.
Locatelli is a midfielder who covers a lot of playing field, but with a creative mindset that makes him the favorite for Allegri. In the 40 games he has played this season he has scored 4 goals, but it is his success in the pass (89% with more than 82 for every 90 minutes) and his offensive clairvoyance (2.2 dribbles, 0.36 opportunities created and 12.3 passes in the final third of the rival field every 90 minutes) which have placed him as one of the names of the summer.
A return as an alternative
If the Locatelli operation does not crystallize, Allegri has another old acquaintance in his bedroom: Miralem Pjanic. At Barça, where he left in the trade that ended Arthur at Juventus Stadium, Miralem's football has faded, so a return to Turin could be the springboard he needs to regain his career pulse. Although going after the Bosnian is contingent, always according to The Gazzetta, to the failure in the negotiation for the Sassuolo. We will see how events unfold. With the European Championship on the horizon, a good performance by Locatelli can turn the fight for his signing into a real war and this would affect a Pjanic who could close his return ticket to Turin just a year after leaving …