4 Players Juventus Should Clear Out in 2016 Summer Transfer Window
With the Serie A season now finished, each club has had time to reflect on their 2015/16 performances and take stock of where they stand ahead of next term. That is certainly true of Juventus, who once again displayed their supremacy in Italy but ultimately lacked the quality needed to compete with Europe's best.
The Bianconeri can bemoan some bad luck in the Champions League, but their last-16 exit to Bayern Munich was undoubtedly due to weaknesses within the squad available to coach Massimiliano Allegri.
While the club are expected to bolster the options at his disposal once the transfer window opens, the former AC Milan boss believes finding stars who can help his side make that leap will not be an easy task.
“This team is hard to improve, so the way we must do it is by improving individual players," Allegri told Uno Mattina (h/t Forza Italian Football). “Improving by buying players from other teams is difficult for us.”
However, despite that claim, there are a number of players in the current squad who are no longer good enough to justify their presence, and what follows here is a look at four men Juventus should look to move on this summer.
Kwadwo Asamoah
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After arriving in July 2012, Kwadwo Asamoah proved himself to be a vital player for Juventus, playing no fewer than 83 games in his first two seasons at the club. Previously used as an all-action midfielder, former coach Antonio Conte deployed him as a wing-back to great effect.
From that new position, Asamoah helped the Bianconeri win two league titles and was voted into the Serie A Team of the Year in 2014 in recognition of his stellar contribution. A combination of powerful running and diligent defending saw the Ghana international control the left flank with ease, weighing in with four goals and nine assists over those two campaigns.
Yet since then, he has missed a significant amount of time with injuries, making just 16 starts in all competitions since the end of the 2013/14 season, failing to score a single goal in that intervening period and adding just two assists.
The combination of inactivity and some abject displays has seen other members of the squad move ahead of him in coach Massimiliano Allegri's plans, as young midfielders like Mario Lemina and Stefano Sturaro have thrived in his absence.
Furthermore, the presence of both Patrice Evra and Alex Sandro means there is now no need to press Asamoah into service on the left, making the 27-year-old a prime candidate for an exit this summer.
Martin Caceres
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While there is little doubt that the combination of injuries and tactical differences have made Kwadwo Asamoah surplus to requirements in Turin, Martin Caceres' fall from grace at Juventus has been almost entirely self-inflicted.
A torn Achilles tendon may have ended his involvement on the field early this season, but the damage had already been done by then. The Uruguay international was suspended back in September for what the Old Lady’s official website called a “gross violation of his responsibilities as a Juventus player, as well as damaging the image of the club.”
That followed a late-night incident in Turin in which Caceres crashed his car and was subsequently found to have been over the drink-drive limit, according to both the ANSA news agency and La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t ESPN FC).
“I don’t know if Caceres will go to Napoli,” Juve director general Beppe Marotta said in an interview last month (h/t Football Italia). “He’s out of contract and at this moment he’s free to find an agreement with whoever he wants to.”
So with his current deal set to expire on June 30 and with no desire from the Bianconeri to extend it, Caceres will almost certainly never pull on the black and white stripes again. It is truly a sad end to a once promising career with the club. The player’s gritty determination and ability to play anywhere in the back line made him an ideal complement to the other defenders in the squad.
Roberto Pereyra
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Vastly underrated before he arrived at Juventus, Roberto Pereyra was something of a revelation in Turin. The former Udinese midfielder brought some much-needed speed and impetus to a previously one-dimensional midfield, with the 2014/15 campaign highlighting just how important he could be in coach Massimiliano Allegri’s system.
The Argentina international's direct approach and running on the ball during his debut season saw him become an essential figure in the 4-3-1-2 formation deployed by the former AC Milan boss.
Pereyra would make an impressive 52 appearances for the Bianconeri that season, registering six goals and four assists. That prompted Juve to make his move from Udinese permanent, paying the Friulian side a fee of €14 million, with a potential further €1.5 million to be added should he “achieve certain predefined sporting targets by 30 June, 2020,” according to their official website.
This term has not approached anything like the success of last season, however, with Pereyra struggling to find space in the side all year. He made just nine league starts and a total of 16 appearances in all competitions, failing to score a single goal and registering just one assist over the entire campaign.
Like Martin Caceres and Kwadwo Asamoah, he also suffered injuries, but on the occasions he did take to the field, he was thoroughly underwhelming and saw others impress in positions he had the opportunity to make his own.
Even if Juan Cuadrado returns to Chelsea when his loan deal expires, this season proved that Pereyra simply lacks the quality to make a difference for Juventus and moving him on when the transfer window opens would be the ideal solution for both parties.
Hernanes
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Last summer, much like this coming summer, Juventus entered the transfer market looking to provide Allegri with some magic in midfield. The club’s lack of players capable of breaking open the game when either Paul Pogba or Paulo Dybala is absent has been glaring, a matter discussed at length previously.
A fruitless search saw the Bianconeri turn to Hernanes, their official website noting that Juve paid their Serie A rivals a sum of €11 million to bring the 31-year-old to Turin late last August.
The former Lazio star would never find his best form, registering just one goal and one assist in his 24 appearances for the eventual league champions. Often looking far off the pace when he took the field, the much less experienced Mario Lemina appeared to bring a far more calming influence to the side at the heart of midfield.
The Brazil native—who routinely seemed to need far too much time on the ball— was repeatedly caught in possession and looked generally unimpressive in an error-riddled campaign.
That combined with his age and the need to improve the side, make it difficult to understand how he fits into Allegri's plans for next season, meaning that Hernanes is surely a prime candidate to be sold on as quickly as possible.
