The six main factors that doomed Juventus this season – Opinion

When Juvntus began the marketing campaign with a median squad coached by Igor Tudor, the expectations had been pretty low from the outset.

Nonetheless, most followers and observers nonetheless anticipated the staff to attain the naked minimal by securing qualification to the Champions League –  In spite of everything, this has been the development lately.

However for the primary time since Luigi Delneri’s tenure, Juventus have failed to complete within the Prime 4, with out counting the 2022/23 marketing campaign, when the membership was slapped with a degree deduction.

With the 2025/26 marketing campaign now within the rearview mirror, it’s time to determine the explanations behind this unmitigated failure.

Igor Tudor’s affirmation

By the tip of the 2024/25 marketing campaign, Juventus tried to lure Antonio Conte again to the membership, however Aurelio De Laurentiis satisfied him to remain at Napoli for one more yr. Within the meantime, Roma had made progress of their talks with Gian Piero Gasperini.

Within the absence of an out there (and reasonably priced) prime candidate, and with the Membership World Cup forcing the membership to behave, Damien Comolli determined to substantiate Igor Tudor, banking on the momentum he had gained after securing UCL soccer.

Nonetheless, the Juventus CEO was compelled to make a U-turn simply two months into the marketing campaign following a horrific begin to the season that noticed the staff put collectively an eight-man winless run.

Luciano Spalletti’s arrival proved to be a shrewd resolution, however the staff was already enjoying catch-up.

Poor summer season signings

The 2025 summer season switch marketing campaign was a colossal catastrophe, and there’s merely no approach round it. Comolli recruited 4 new gamers: Jonathan David, Joao Mario, Lois Openda, and Edon Zhegrova, and never one in every of them proved genuinely helpful for the trigger.

Failure to signal a striker in January

In contrast with the summer season, the January switch window was actually an enchancment with Jeremie Boga and Emil Holm coming in.

Nonetheless, Spalletti had requested for a centre-forward to switch Dusan Vlahovic, who nonetheless had three extra months on the sidelines, and he by no means bought one.

The shortage of a real striker compelled the supervisor to depend on the unconvincing David and Openda. Thus, one may marvel what number of factors the staff dropped due to the absence of a prolific goal man.

Gregorio’s blunders

Whereas singling out one participant may be harsh, Michele Di Gregorio’s premature blunders have been very expensive. The 28-year-old conceded avoidable objectives, usually from the primary shot on the right track.

Spalletti relegated him to the bench in latest months, however Mattia Perin’s harm gave him one other probability, one he did not benefit from.

No matter occurred to the Monza goalkeeper who was named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Yr in 2024?!

Refereeing errors

The unsavoury Kalulu-Bastoni incident may be probably the most notorious incident, however there have been many different refereeing episodes that impeded Juventus earlier than and after the Derby d’Italia in February, together with the matches towards Hellas Verona and Lazio.

They usually say that the refereeing errors finally steadiness themselves out, but it surely didn’t occur this time.

Weak character

In his remaining press convention of the season, Spalletti summed it up by saying that his squad lacks the required character.

This largely explains why the staff suffocated beneath strain, particularly within the penultimate spherical of the season towards Fiorentina.

Regardless of their restricted technical qualities, a mentally stronger staff would have maintained composure and preserved its benefit within the Champions League race. Alas, real leaders have change into more and more scarce at Continassa.