Juventus market, new d.s. kicks off reinforcement plan for Spalletti
Juventus is now ready to make Marco Ottolini official as its new sporting director. The Lombard manager, who had left Genoa last October 31, definitively terminated his contract with the Rossoblù club on Tuesday and is expected to start working from January with the aim of reinforcing the squad available to Luciano Spalletti ahead of a second half of the season that continues to see, at the moment, the Bianconeri engaged on three fronts (league, Coppa Italia and Champions League). The winter market priorities are clear, with the’main goal being to reinforce the midfield.
The midfield is indeed the top priority for Spalletti, who has already drawn up a list of possible reinforcements. Among the main targets is Davide Frattesi of Inter, an operation that could be unlocked thanks to a particular market crossover involving Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemovic. The latter, in fact, is in Inter’s sights and the Nerazzurri club would be willing to offer 25 million, half of which would go precisely to Juventus as the former owner of the player’s tag, thus providing the funds needed to meet the Nerazzurri’s demand of 30 million for Frattesi.
Alternatives for the midfield include Marseille’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, already sought in the summer but blocked by Roberto De Zerbi (the Italian coach also entrusted him with OM’s captain’s armband), and Leipzig’s Xaver Schlager, although the latter is on contract expiration and could reason on a pre-agreement rather than a January landing at Juventus. Speaking of summer, Juventus is also monitoring Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka, who is also expiring and is also being followed by Napoli. The German would represent an international experience profile liked by Spalletti to give more solidity to the department.
The need to intervene in the market is evident after a first part of the season that has highlighted some gaps in the Bianconeri’s roster. Ottolini will have the task of accelerating the operations already initiated by the management, using his experience to close the deals needed to support Spalletti’s technical project.
For Ottolini this is a return to Juventus, in a completely different role, however, than in the past. In fact, the 45-year-old from Gardone Val Trompia had held the role of observer and loan area manager from 2018 to 2022, contributing to the development of Juventus Next Gen. His managerial career had begun in 2015 at Anderlecht, while his last experience at Genoa had seen him play a leading role in important market operations, including the transfers of Mateo Retegui and Josep Martinez.
They are the ones who have been involved in the Juventus team.
