Thiago Motta might regret selling Juventus’ experienced players

Thiago Motta landed the biggest job in Italian football when Juventus made him their manager this season, and the former midfielder is making some drastic changes.

Their former manager, Max Allegri, had asked for several new signings, but their sporting director, Cristiano Giuntoli, was not interested in investing in the team without changing managers.

It was a telling sign that Juve was going to change their manager this summer. Making Motta their next coach was one of the worst-kept secrets in Italian football, as several news outlets already revealed he would be their next manager by the start of 2024.

The reason they chose him to lead them next is not so far-fetched considering the job he did at Bologna.

The Red and Blues usually fight for relegation and will be praised if they finish a campaign in midtable.

However, when Motta came around he made them to believe that they could achieve more and he led the team to finish inside the Champions League places last term.

Bologna was desperate for him to stay, but he opted to move to the Allianz Stadium, where he hopes his style of football will sell some Juventus tickets.

This is a huge gamble on his part and that of the club because Juve has always focused more on results than on the style of football.

The Old Lady stuck with Max Allegri for three seasons because he had previously proven that he could win trophies, and they did not care much about his style of football.

In 2019, they lured Maurizio Sarri from Chelsea to become their manager and promised him that they needed a change of style to a more exciting one.

However, after one season, they sacked him even though he had won the league and had improved their team's performance.

Juve has some of the best youngsters in Serie A now, and Motta can succeed if he moulds them into the players he needs for his system.

He has already shown that he can make bold calls by sidelining eight first team regulars he met at the club, asking them to find a new club because they are not a part of his plans. Is he making the right decision?

Too many decisions too soon

It is always good for a leader to know what he wants, and Motta has clearly shown that he has the confidence to make tough decisions. 

It is a bold choice to sideline Federico Chiesa and Weston McKennie because they do not fit into his plans.

However, he probably made that decision too soon, which could have had an effect on his team.

A new manager typically hands chances to every player at the club to show what they can do and fight for a place on his team.

However, even before he watched them in training, Motta has made some stars surplus to requirements.

He has been swift in deciding who he wants to keep, but it does not change the fact that he has been too quick in making some calls.

This could have a negative implication when he has injury and suspension problems, forcing him to look for new players to fill voids in his preferred group.

Lack of experience

Juve has not just sidelined players, the Bianconeri have also added some stars to their squad in this transfer window to further strengthen it.

Motta has been supported with the likes of Douglas Luiz, Juan Cabal, Khephren Thuram, and Michele di Gregorio among others.

Juve has had a fine summer on the transfer market, but their team without the sidelined players lacks experience,

The new manager has done well with a small squad in the past and has found a way around getting results without much experience because his team only competed in Serie A and Coppa Italia.

His Bologna side was also not expected to win any trophy, and the case is different for Juventus.

At Juve, he will be required to play in at least four competitions, so he needs all the experience he can get to win trophies.

It makes little sense to sideline players like Wes McKennie, Arkadiusz Milik, Chiesa and Wojciech Szczęsny, among others.

These are some of the most experienced players he has available, but he has opted to make them redundant despite not having found a replacement yet.

It is a decision that shows he is a courageous manager, but it jeopardises their chances of being successful as one of the favourites to win the Serie A title this season. 

Dressing room revolt

Although Motta seems to have kept his players interested in working with him to implement his style of play, depending on how he treats the sidelined players, he could lose the dressing room in the long run.

These players love each other, and those in his plans would communicate with their redundant teammates, so he might not be popular because of that decision.

Signing many new players means his team would have several stars who are loyal to him because he signed them.

However, if the new term begins and some of the sidelined stars do not have a new home and are not being treated well, their teammates could revolt against their new manager.

Motta became the manager of Juventus at a time when Serie A seemed to be the most interesting league to follow this season, so he would not want to lose the dressing room in his first term as the team’s manager.

While it makes sense to prepare for the season with only the players he needs, he must be open to reintegrating others if the transfer window closes and they have not found a new club.

Exiled players that Juventus still needs

Some players who have been exiled from the first team are genuinely not useful to their team, so fans would not even ask about them when the team struggles.

However, there are others who can still make a contribution to the current team, and they have to be reinstated if they cannot find a new club at the end of this month.

Federico Chiesa

The most surprising casualty among the players Juventus has asked to find a new club is Chiesa because we all expected him to be a leader in the new Juve.

He wasted the last three seasons playing for the defence-minded Max Allegri, so he probably will thrive in Motta’s more attacking and exciting style of play.

Weston McKennie

It is the second consecutive summer that McKennie has been asked to leave Juventus, but the midfielder does not deserve this treatment.

He was one of their fantastic players last season after coming from the brink of being bundled out to reclaim a spot on the team.

McKennie can be useful to Motta and deserves to be given a chance to prove that he can do well.

Hans Nicolussi-Caviglia

Nicolussi Caviglia is another surprise in this list because he is just 24 and did well in some big games for Juve last season.

He did not play regularly, but he started some tough matches, including the derby against Inter Milan and the Coppa Italia final against Atalanta.

At 24, he needs regular game time, but if no club signs him, Motta has to trust him to adapt to his demands and do well in Turin.

Conclusion

Motta has shown he can be ruthless if any player does not meet his standards, but some of these sideline stars deserve second chances.