‘Yildiz better with a No 9’

TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 25: Jonathan David of Juventus celebrates scoring his staff’s first purpose with teammates Weston McKennie and Kenan Yildiz throughout the Serie A match between Juventus FC and SSC Napoli at Juventus Stadium on January 25, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Picture by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Photographs)

Luciano Spalletti appeared to ship a message to Juventus about the way forward for Jonathan David and Lois Openda. ‘Kenan Yildiz would do even higher if he had a Quantity 9 close to him.’

The Bianconeri ended their dismal run of outcomes with the primary Serie A victory since February 1, crushing Pisa 4-0 with all of the objectives within the second half scored by Andrea Cambiaso, Khephren Thuram, Kenan Yildiz and Jeremie Boga.

It’s notable that the breakthrough and huge enchancment solely got here after the break, when David and Federico Gatti had been substituted by Boga and Lloyd Kelly.

Yildiz was moved to the False 9 function and located his purpose, however Spalletti’s feedback felt like a pointed reminder of his January switch requests.

Spalletti wished a brand new striker at Juventus

“A centre-forward must have both a bodily influence, or nice technical high quality,” the coach informed DAZN Italia.

“There aren’t many areas towards sides like Pisa, so you should be capable of weight the go appropriately, we confirmed that we did have the conditions to trigger issues.

“It turns into tougher for Yildiz to play like this, as a result of these usually are not his traits, he isn’t comfortable along with his again to purpose.”

Talking to Sky Sport Italia, Spalletti was even clearer along with his messaging on what he wished from the assault, which David and Openda merely don’t present.

“Yildiz would do even higher if he had a Quantity 9 close to him.”

The tactician made no secret of his need to signal an actual centre-forward throughout the January switch window, however negotiations for gamers like Randal Kolo-Muani and Youssef En-Nesyri faltered.

We could nicely quickly see extra of what Spalletti had envisaged, as a result of Dusan Vlahovic is again in coaching after an adductor tear in November 2025.

The Serbian has the form of traits that aren’t offered by Canada worldwide David, who could possibly be again available on the market this summer season.

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