4 Players Who Are Fighting for Their Juventus Futures in the Rest of the Season

Juventus are finally humming.

After enduring their worst start to a season in decades, the Bianconeri woke up on Halloween night.  That night saw them win the Derby della Mole on an improbable late goal, and since then they have ripped through Serie A and are finally back where they feel they belong: the top of the table.

They also have one foot in the Coppa Italia final and a puncher's chance of getting to the Champions League quarters after a stunning comeback to send their round-of-16 tie with Bayern Munich to Bavaria level at 2-2.

Their resurgence has been, in part, a product of a series of important players returning from injuries.  That has forced a good segment of the roster down in the pecking order.  Between that, injury concerns of their own and a few teammates out to pip roster spots, there are a few players on this roster who will be using the final three-and-a-half months of the season to try to show how useful they can be to the team.

The following is a list of four Juventus players who will be fighting for their future with the club between now and May.

Patrice Evra

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Patrice Evra has impressed in Turin, but younger options are close at his heels.

Let's be very clear here: Patrice Evra's spot is not in danger through any fault of his own.  He's continued the excellent form that pleasantly surprised Juventus fans after his arrival from Manchester United last year.

Evra's future at Juve is under threat because Alex Sandro is simply that good.  Juventus spent €26 million on the left-back from Porto this summer.  That's not backup money—and Sandro is not a backup player.  He defends well and is exceptional going forward.  All three of his assists this year provided the deciding goal in one of the team's 15 straight wins between the end of October to the end of last week.

Evra was always a stopgap solution to the team's years-long problem at left-back.  By the end of the season, he'll be 35, and no one can keep Father Time away forever.  Juve probably won't be opposed to keeping him as an experienced backup and locker-room leader, but Evra may want to finish his playing days at a team where he will be able to play every day.

If he continues to play at the level he's playing at now, he may be able to secure another timeshare on the left flank with Sandro before calling it a career.  If he starts to drop off in the last phase of the season, it could convince Juve to let him go and troll the summer market for a cheap backup to Sandro.

Mario Lemina

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Lemina could still be an intriguing midfield prospect.

An intriguing midfield prospect, Mario Lemina was a major part of the early part of the season.  When Claudio Marchisio and Sami Khedira were injured, Lemina was forced into action.

He started four games in September and October and scored a goal at the San Paolo in the team's 2-1 loss to Napoli.  He also had a few low moments, particularly the 1-0 loss to Sassuolo that triggered Juve's epic run. He picked up a cheap booking early and was lucky not to get himself sent off when he kicked a ball away after being called for a foul a few minutes later.

He played no part in the winning streak, but that was more because of a string of injuries.  Lemina remains a 21-year-old bundle of potential, capable of passing, defending and attacking with quality.  If he develops properly, he could turn into another Arturo Vidal, or at least Vidal Lite—which, given the original, wouldn't be too shabby.  But he has to prove to the team he can do it.

The Bianconeri have a €9.5 million option to make Lemina's loan from Marseille permanent.  The question is whether they will exercise it.  Right now Juve's midfield is set with Marchisio, Khedira, Paul Pogba, Stefano Sturaro and Roberto Pereyra all cemented ahead of him, and Hernanes and Kwadwo Asamoah (more on them later) could be as well.  Lemina will have a lot of work to do to vault them on the depth chart.

The deciding factor could be Pogba.  If the team senses they could lose him this summer, they may keep Lemina on as insurance.  If they think they can keep him for yet another summer, they may not want to clutter the roster.

Kwadwo Asamoah

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Asamoah takes on his former club in Juve's 4-0 January win at the Dacia Arena.

A mainstay during Juve's run of dominance in Serie A, Asamoah was one of the symbols of Antonio Conte's 3-5-2 after manning its left wing for two years.  That earned him a starting spot on Ghana's 2014 World Cup team, but last year an injury kept him on the shelf for almost the entire season.

He worked his way back, but more muscle problems have limited him to just four league appearances, plus one in the Coppa Italia.

What Asamoah has going for him is versatility.  Originally a midfielder at Udinese, he can play the left of the 3-5-2 or a traditional left-back if called upon.  Under Massimiliano Allegri he has tended to play in the midfield, at least this year.

His biggest problem is durability.  If he wants to stay in the picture at Juve, he needs to show the team he can stay healthy for more than a month at a time.  If he doesn't, the club could decide it's not worth waiting for him and move on, despite the contribution he's made to the team's rebirth.

Hernanes

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Hernanes had his best game for Juve against Bayern.

Hernanes was bought to be a trequartista.  After Juventus searched the transfer market in vain for an attacking midfielder in the summer transfer window, they settled for Hernanes, who was bought from Inter for €11 million.

As panic buys go, it wasn't the worst in the world.  Unfortunately, the 30-year-old isn't quite suited for the trequartista role anymore.  He certainly floundered at the beginning of the year.  He completed a high number of passes—91.1 percent of them in the league, according to WhoScored.com—but few of them were of consequence.  He averaged only 0.6 key passes per game and was dispossessed an average of 1.7 times.

The season's most impactful moment involving the Brazilian was his red card in the Champions League group stage against Borussia Monchengladbach in November, which killed Juventus' momentum and forced them to hang on to a draw by a thread.

This move had all the hallmarks of a quick turnaround for next summer—at least until Tuesday's game against Bayern Munich.  Inserted into the lineup at halftime for an ailing Marchisio, Hernanes played his best game in a Juve shirt and helped trigger their stunning comeback.

That revelation could be huge.  Without Marchisio at the regista position, this team loses a lot of its effectiveness.  If Hernanes moves deeper into midfield and proves effective, Allegri will have stumbled upon a much-needed backup for Marchisio—and Hernanes may stay a Juventus player for a longer period of time.