Juventus Robbed of Creativity as Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez Walk Away

The past 12 months have seen much change at Juventus, with last year’s coaching change perhaps the chief difference. While the club’s continued domestic success appears to be a foregone conclusion, the departure of Antonio Conte was expected to have a far deeper impact that it eventually did.

AS Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli—for a variety of reasons and in vastly different ways—each failed to mount a serious challenge, while both Milan clubs continue to flounder in mid-table mediocrity. That meant Massimiliano Allegri faced very few obstacles as he led Italian football’s grand Old Lady to a fourth-consecutive Serie A title, and it is difficult to see that changing in 2015/16.

Yet the Bianconeri will once again be a much-altered side when the new campaign gets underway, the club set to lose two hugely influential figures this summer as Carlos Tevez and Andrea Pirlo have seemingly decided to call an end to their time in Turin.

Perhaps the latter is the most surprising, with ESPN Deportes' Roberto Abramowitz reporting the midfielder will sign for MLS side New York City FC next week. For Tevez, a return to former club Boca Juniors has seemed inevitable for some time, however, and the Argentinian club announced the switch this past weekend per BBC Sport.

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He leaves Europe with 5 league titles, 3 cups & a Champions League. Carlos Tevez joins Boca http://t.co/CzygwjsGen pic.twitter.com/TAsqYlkXK1

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 27, 2015"

Boca president Daniel Angelici called it “a day of joy and great satisfaction,” per the same source, but for Juventus the loss of two of the squad’s most influential leaders is cause for some concern. The likes of Gigi Buffon, Patrice Evra and Claudio Marchisio will likely fill that void, but the exit of that duo will also arguably leave Juventus lacking creativity when they next take to the field.

Indeed, Allegri himself seemed fully aware of this in an interview with La Repubblica, telling them (h/t Football Italia) that “without Carlos Tevez and Andrea Pirlo, Juve will have to change and experiment with new solutions.”

Squawka.com

It is impossible to disagree with that opinion, particularly as the Argentinian has been the club’s leading goalscorer in each of the last two seasons. In addition to netting 50 goals in 95 appearances, his seven assists were also a team high in 2014/15, while only Claudio Marchisio (six) created more goals than Pirlo’s tally of five.

That trend continues in terms of chances created, with the above graphic, courtesy of Squawka.com, showing that same trio leading the way. The same source shows Paulo Dybala—having notched 10 assists last term—may help cover for that loss, but the below graphic highlights the lack of creativity elsewhere in the current squad.

Squawka.com

That is reinforced by statistics from WhoScored.com which show that Pirlo and Tevez led Juventus with 2.2 and 1.9 key passes per game, respectively, with Paul Pogba (1.4) ranking highest among the rest of the side’s regular players. Their figures also reveal that Atletico Madrid star Mario Mandzukic made just 0.6 of those passes per outing, while Dybala averaged 1.6 for Palermo in 2014/15.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

It is hard to escape the feeling that without another addition in midfield, the Bianconeri could return to being the much more dour and functional side they were before Tevez arrived in 2013. Allegri has stated publicly on a number of occasions his desire to see an attacking midfielder arrive, and now more than ever such a signing seems essential.

In that aforementioned interview with La Repubblica, the coach specifically discussed the need to sign “someone able to invent” (h/t Football Italia). He went on to name potential “wildcard” candidates as he added “I like Isco of Real Madrid and the Brazilian Oscar. Among the Italians, I’d say Domenico Berardi and Federico Bernardeschi.”

Clearly some of those targets would be difficult to land, but Juventus need to replace the playmaking and creativity they will lose when Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez walk away.