Why a Transfer Move for Real Madrid's Isco Would Be Good for Juventus

The January transfer window is bearing down on the soccer world, and with it all the craziness that the market entails.  Juventus aren't going to be an exception to the crazy.

There are mixed indications as to how the Bianconeri are going to handle the winter mercato.  In an interview with Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) before Friday's game against Lazio, director Giuseppe Marotta said that he didn't think there wouldn't be any major opportunities this winter.

Tuttosport, on the other hand, reported Monday (h/t Football Italia) that the team was preparing a €60 million war chest to prepare assaults on targets like Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Moutinho.

Both of those players could play as an attacking midfielder in Massimiliano Allegri's preferred 4-3-1-2 system.  But there's another player who can play that position that Juve could consider targeting in January—but only if an advantageous situation presents itself.

That player is Isco.

The 23-year-old was of interest to Juve over the summer, and there are rumblings that the team is casting an eye in his direction.  Tuttomercatoweb reported just before Thanksgiving (h/t Football Italia) that the team was considering approaching Real Madrid about a loan move this winter.

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Juventus fans have been begging for an attacking midfielder since well before the summer transfer window opened.  It was seen as a need because the 4-3-1-2 looked to be Allegri's primary system going forward and there weren't any natural trequartistas on the team.  Arturo Vidal served in the role most of the time last year, but he looked uncomfortable, and the position stripped him of some of the qualities that made him the best box-to-box midfielder in the game.

Claudio Marchisio was also not an option, having developed into the successor to Andrea Pirlo as regista.  He plays the position differently, but he plays it very effectively, and the team's struggles in his absence at the beginning of the year showed just how important his presence there is.  Paul Pogba was tried in the hole in preseason—an experiment that was quickly brought to an end.

The only player on the roster capable of playing as a trequartista is Roberto Pereyra.  This column advocated that he be allowed to do just that once he returns from a leg injury.  His ability to dribble through defenses is shared by few of his team-mates, and his speed can aid any breakaway.

But if the club is committed to finding a trequartista from outside the organization, Isco is a heck of a choice.

Throughout his entire career, he's shown the ability to score and create in equal measure.  He logged a nine-goal season in his last campaign with Malaga in 2012-13 and scored eight in his first with Real Madrid.  Last season, he scored only four goals but logged nine assists.

From that position last year, Vidal scored seven times in the league but only assisted four—and it's worth noting that Vidal had been Juve's regular penalty-taker for three years before he left for Bayern Munich this summer.

Even when giving allowance to the fact that Vidal had a nagging knee issue for much of the first half of the season last year, it's clear that Isco would be a better fit at that position, especially when you compare their key-pass stats.  WhoScored.com clocked Vidal at a 1.3-per-game average in both league and European play, whereas Isco recorded 1.6 and 2 respectively—numbers that have bumped up to 1.8 and a whopping 3.2 this year.

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For the record, those numbers blow those of Hernanes (1.3 in the Champions League and a miniscule 0.5 in Italy), who was signed expressly to fill that position, out of the water.

Isco has been integral to Madrid's team the last two years, but playing time isn't a given for him.  Like current Juve players Sami Khedira and Alvaro Morata in years past, Isco could fall victim to Florentino Perez's chronic inability to stop buying shiny things on the transfer market.

Persistent leg injuries to Gareth Bale saw the youngster get extended playing time so far, but he might be about to run into a wall in this regard.  Bale is back, and coach Rafael Benitez has so far preferred a 4-3-3 formation to any other, especially when Bale is on the field.

With Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema forming the forward line and Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez cemented as the midfield trio, Isco may find minutes quite difficult to come by.  He'll also have to compete with the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Casemiro—who has proved to be effective midfield cover this year—just to get off the bench.

There has been little indication in the media that Isco wants out of Madrid just yet, although Spanish publication Sport voiced concern in an October editorial that the rise of players like Casemiro, Jese and Lucas Vazquez eventually push the likes of Isco to the transfer list.

If he does want to leave, Juve would be a prime landing spot.  The Bianconeri have a good working relationship with Real going back to the sale of Zinedine Zidane, and Isco would have an easier time settling in the squad with former team-mates Khedira and Morata.  Combining him with Morata would indeed be a tantalizing prospect, given how much they played together not only at Madrid but for the Spanish U21 side as well.

It's clear that Juventus need an upgrade at the trequartista spot.  Hernanes would have made a difference two years ago but is shaping up to be a mistake now.  Pereyra can play the position but has other strengths as well—and Isco is probably better than him anyway.

If this move were to happen in this transfer window it would most likely be a loan with an option to buy in the summer, when the next season's finances will be clearer.  It may also not materialize at all—especially if reports from the likes of the Daily Mail that Real will be hit with a transfer ban similar to the one about to end for Barcelona come true.  In that case, Real will likely opt to keep their depth intact.

But we aren't here today to figure out whether or not it would happen, but whether it would be a good move for Juve.  And the answer to that is an unqualified yes.  If Giuseppe Marotta can find a way to make a move for Isco in the next few transfer windows, it should be done.  He would be a massive upgrade to a position of relative need.