Juventus May Yet Benefit from Domenico Berardi's Decision to Stay at Sassuolo

Ripping Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic away from Napoli and AS Roma, respectively, Juventus seemingly dismantled all their nearest challengers in a ruthless summer transfer window.

As a result, it is difficult for neutral observers to feel any sympathy for the reigning Italian champions, with former AC Milan boss Pippo Inzaghi telling La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia) that the Bianconeri have no domestic competition this term:

"

I follow more or less everyone. I think there is no challenger to Juventus this year, they are on a different level compared to everyone else.

Starting from the three defenders and the goalkeeper, it's almost impossible to score a goal against them and now they have top-scorer Higuain too.

"

Given the fact that—as the tweet below highlights—Gigi Buffon and the Leonardo Bonucci-Andrea Barzagli-Giorgio Chiellini back line set a new record for not conceding goals, it is likely that Inzaghi will be proved correct.

Yet, even as the Old Lady enjoy a fine start to 2016/17, events elsewhere in Serie A indicate that Juve will once again hoover up the best players from their domestic rivals when the current campaign comes to an end.

They will hope to do so by adding a forward who turned down the chance to move to Turin this past summer, with Domenico Berardi seemingly opting to remain with Sassuolo for another year instead.

Despite being a late starter, the 22-year-old has long been connected to the Bianconeri. Indeed, having joined Sassuolo as recently as 2010, Juve only needed to see his first full campaign to recognise his talent. Berardi registered 11 goals and five assists in 2012/13 as he helped the Reggio Emilia-based club earn promotion to the top flight.

As their official website noted at the time, Juve sealed a co-ownership deal for Berardi the summer before he played a single minute in Serie A, but he would quickly prove that he belonged at that level.

Netting twice in his first five appearances before bagging a hat-trick against Sampdoria in early November and scoring in a 1-1 draw with AS Roma, he would then register the first of what would become a series of memorable performances against AC Milan.

That foggy evening in January 2014—when coach Massimiliano Allegri’s Rossoneri lost 4-3—will live long in the memory, with the current Juve boss on the receiving end of a four-goal blitz that would catapult Berardi into the attention of a much wider audience.

The prodigious teenager was no longer a secret, with his speed and precision helping him to consistently carve open Serie A defences with ease. His first two seasons in the league saw him develop into an unstoppable force, but on the surface, it appeared that his production dropped off somewhat last term.

After netting 16 times in 2013/14, Berardi struck 15 goals the following season, but the 2015/16 campaign saw him find the back of the net on just seven occasions. Yet those figures fail to highlight his true impact on Sassuolo’s results.

Indeed, as the table below—compiled using statistics from WhoScored.com—highlights, his scoring tally was about the only aspect of his game that suffered any kind of drop-off last year.

WhoScored.com

His tallies for assists, chances created and passes completed all remained relatively even with the previous campaign, but there are two points to note when analysing his apparent decline.

First is the drop in both fouls suffered and the number of times Berardi lost the ball per game. Watching him play, it was obvious that he had learned to pass the ball quicker, giving it over to a team-mate rather than risk being dispossessed or hacked down.

If that hints at a more mature, team-oriented approach, then another statistic bears it out. According to WhoScored, Berardi was responsible for 37 per cent of Sassuolo’s goals in 2013/14 and 33 per cent in 2014/15, but that figure fell to just 14.2 per cent last term.

However, the Neroverdi improved as a result of him sharing the ball more, qualifying for the Europa League for the first time ever—an accomplishment that appears to have had a major impact on his decision to stay at the Mapei Stadium this past summer.

The Old Lady have long been known to have a gentleman’s agreement with Berardi's current side, but the two clubs have simply opted to delay his move until 2017, as the Sassuolo owner Giorgio Squinzi recently admitted.

“We have an agreement with Juventus, the transfer has simply been postponed by a year,” he told the FCInterNews website (h/t Football Italia). “The lad will go to Turin at the end of next season.”

It was a choice that upset many Juventus supporters who were keen to see the young star pull on the black and white stripes.

One fan, Gianni, explained his opinion on the matter to Bleacher Report: "It's disappointing because he's clearly such a massive talent and an Italian, so after three consecutive years of this, I wonder if he'll ever end up at Juve. It makes me question his mentality, especially seeing other players like Paulo Dybala and Marko Pjaca, who at the same age were willing to make that leap to a big club like Juve and fight for their spots."

Yet despite those fears, it seems Berardi has entered the new season with a determination to both vindicate his decision and show that he is still improving under Sassuolo coach Eusebio Di Francesco.

Netting in each of the club’s first two Serie A fixtures has taken the 21-year-old’s tally to 40 goals in 92 league appearances, the best return by a player his age in over two decades. Berardi has also added 23 assists over that same period, while his impact on their UEFA Europa League campaign cannot be understated.

In their four qualifying-round matches against FC Luzern and Red Star, the pacey forward has weighed in with a remarkable five goals, carrying Sassuolo into the group stage, where he will hope to continue that same sparkling form.

He has also allayed fears over his discipline, as concerns were sparked by his tally of 33 yellow cards in his first three Serie A campaigns. Averaging one booking every three games in that time, Berardi has yet to be cautioned in six appearances this term, with the improvement coming despite a renewed vigour to his defensive work rate.

According to WhoScored, he is averaging the same 1.5 tackles per game as last term, but he is visibly applying more diligence and effort to his pressing when the ball is lost, rewarded by a rise in his number of interceptions per game—that figure leaping from 1.0 to 2.5 this season.

But it is on the ball where he remains the most devastating—he's a study in constant motion, as he never allows opposition defenders to rest, intelligently creating and exploiting space. Dropping deep, drifting wide or running behind his marker and with a deadly eye for goal, Berardi seems to have it all, and he’s only getting better with every minute of experience.

MARCO BERTORELLO/Getty Images

Having witnessed his emergence at close quarters, Allegri has admired the winger, as he explained at his traditional press conference before the two sides met in Turin this past weekend.

“Berardi is a very interesting youngster who is developing,” the Juve boss told reporters. “He made his decision to remain with Sassuolo, and he's one of Italy's best talents."

Juventus supporters may not like his choice to stay where he is, but for now it is paying off, and if Berardi eventually makes the jump, it will ultimately be the Bianconeri who benefit most.