Born in Naples on 10/03/88, graduated in Philosophy and Politics at the Oriental University of Naples. He has been working for TMW since 2008, he was deputy director for 10 years. Correspondent following the National Team
In the summer of total revolution, Juventus has decided to publicly reveal who is in and who is out. After the friendly against Brest, coach Thiago Motta declared that nine players under contract are officially out of his project. Not only that: if for Nicolussi-Caviglia and Tjago Djalo it is purely a technical choice, a question of footballing level, for the other seven players the black and white days are definitely over because in May a door was closed. Triple locked. Arthur, Rugani, De Sciglio, Szczesny, Kostic, McKennie and Federico Chiesa are so far out of the project that the black and white fans – if they go to the online store – already no longer have the possibility of buying shirts with their names.
Of the seven players completely purged, there are three whose contracts expire in 2026 and four next June. Big names: De Sciglio, Szczesny, McKennie and, above all, Federico Chiesa. “We have been clear internally, we have spoken with each of them. Both for Chiesa and for the others it is a decision made, we are convinced of what we have done”, said Thiago Motta. These are words and actions that there is no going back from, even if in any case Juventus had been working for weeks on their transfer. These are phrases that have enormous weight because they polarize the situation, inviting the players once again to find a place elsewhere. At the same time, however, they reduce to zero the possibility of mending the relationship should the transfer not go through. Above all, they risk playing into the hands of the interested clubs who will wait even longer until the end of August to snatch them from Juventus on advantageous terms.
On the altar of a revolution that was not so profound even after the two seventh places, Juventus, which has already finalized six transfers, has officially put nine other players on the market. If all goes well, in a month it will find itself with a squad in the image and likeness of Thiago Motta. If all goes badly, with many cases that are difficult to resolve and with players whose contracts expire like Chiesa and McKennie who will surely look elsewhere to continue, as free agents, their careers in 2025. It is a all in very risky.
The Juventus revolution, in particular the future of Federico Chiesa, is a topic that also interests the national team. What was supposed to be our Sinner at the European Championship was little more than a walk-on. Like almost everyone else, of course, but for someone who was called upon to drag the team along, that can’t be an extenuating circumstance. Luciano Spalletti will certainly continue to count on him, if Chiesa manages to avoid a season between the bench and the stands. Otherwise, he too could find himself in question in a national team that, exactly one month after returning to the field (France-Italy on September 6), already knows that for at least the next six Nations League games it won’t be able to count on Gianluca Scamacca, the centre-forward who suffered a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Atalanta’s friendly against Parma.
Given who is there and what is behind him, it is not a small detail. Also because it is true that the Nations League is not a national-popular topic, but Spalletti after the German blunder must immediately reverse the course against France, Israel and Belgium if he does not want his dismissal to become a current topic in the days in which the election of the new FIGC president will ignite the political-sports debate.