A quarrel in Juve over the Brazilian flop

Juventus’ season ended in complete disappointment. No trophies and qualification only for the Europa League is a result that sets off alarm bells in Turin. For a club whose motto is “Winning isn’t important, it’s the only thing that matters” a season like this needs to be archived as quickly as possible, lessons must be learned, and mistakes corrected. However, that may not be so simple. A huge amount of work awaits Juventus executives this summer. Dusan Vlahovic’s situation remains unresolved and the chances of extending cooperation with the Serbian striker are growing slimmer by the day. The futures of major signings Jonathan David and Loïs Openda are also uncertain after both failed to meet expectations, meaning they could leave Continassa after just one season. And an old problem has resurfaced — Douglas Luiz.

The Brazilian midfielder arrived two years ago as a marquee signing from Aston Villa in a transfer worth 51.5 million euros. He turned out to be a major disappointment. In his debut season he registered neither a goal nor an assist in 27 appearances, and already in his second campaign he was sent out on loan to Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. His contract with the Old Lady still has three years remaining, and the club are trying to move him on and limit the financial damage. But coach Luciano Spalletti does not share that view and wants to keep him. That has become the latest source of tension between the two most important figures in Juventus’ sporting structure: general director Damien Comolli and manager Spalletti. Burdened by financial losses in recent years and poor results on the pitch, Comolli wants to salvage what he can and cash in on Luiz early in the transfer window. He has no illusions that Aston Villa will activate the 25 million buyout clause, but he hopes to recover at least some money from the Brazilian’s sale in order to patch up holes in the club’s financial reports.

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On the other hand, Spalletti believes Luiz is a quality player and wants him to at least go through pre-season preparations so he can evaluate him firsthand. The Italian coach believes the Brazilian could play the deep-lying playmaker role previously performed in his teams by David Pizarro at Udinese and Roma or Stanislav Lobotka at Napoli. If Luiz fails to impress during the next few months, Spalletti would then be willing to approve either a sale or another loan move. That scenario does not suit Comolli, who wants to monetize the player before June 30 for accounting purposes. The two sides have failed to find a compromise, which is why club owner John Elkann has stepped into the situation. He demanded that both the director and the coach lower tensions and find the best solution in Juventus’ interest. Elkann also warned them that he will not tolerate internal disputes damaging the club in the future. And he has enough reasons to consider drastic measures, because neither Comolli nor Spalletti delivered the results that had been expected of them.