Seduced and Abandoned: WHY Juventus refused to sign Lavezzi and Banega
Everything looks rosy now as the Old Lady is on a 12-game winning streak in Serie A, but at the beginning of the current campaign things were far from being perfect.
Lot of injuries affected the team between August and mid-October while Massimiliano Allegri couldn’t find the right asset after that Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez had left the Stadium.
Juventus’ form was unpredictable.
The Old Lady managed drawing against Chievo at home and winning at the Etihad Stadium in Champions League only three days after.
The Man City clash was one of those games in which Allegri opted to line-up Juve with 4-3-3 system, though Alvaro Morata was played out of position, down the left flank. The Spaniard scored the winner against Manuel Pellegrini’s side after that Mario Mandzukic exit had allowed him playing as a sole striker up front.
In the following days, Morata complained for his playing position and only a month later Allegri decided to swop Juve to the good old 3-5-2.
In the meantime, Bianconeri had tried to sign Ezequiel Lavezzi.
The two parties had found economic agreement already, The Argentinean star had agreed € 4 million a year deal for three seasons, while the player’s agent Alejandro Mazzoni wad been working to persuade PSG to allow the player’s departure in January, six months ahead of his contract’s expiration.
Trouble is , (not for Allegri thoug) that the Old Lady slowly came back on track thanks to her manager’s tactical intuitions as well as Paulo Dybala’s explosion on the scene.
In November Lavezzi was not needed anymore and the same goes for his compatriot Ever Banega.
Giuseppe Marotta met the playmaker’s representatives while in Spain attending the Champions League clash between Juve and the Sevilla this past December.
Yet again, the deal collapsed as Marotta didn’t want to alter the balance that the team had just found, not to mansion how difficult it was to find suitors for Hernanes, who plays the same role as Banega.
Lorenzo Bettoni @lorebetto, adapted from an article by Nicola Balice @nicolabalice
