Speaking to DAZN on the eve of the Milan fixture, Luciano Spalletti delivered his most extensive and revealing pre-match assessment of the new Juventus — ranging across the title race, his relationships with the directors, every major individual in his squad, and the competition he insists must be treated with total seriousness from the very first whistle.
“We Must Find Our Equilibrium — There Were Moments Last Season When We Played Football That Was Enormous”
On the competitive landscape ahead of the season’s first genuine test: “Milan have built a very important squad. Como have confirmed their level and Roma have started strongly. But everything is possible for those seven or eight clubs in the running. Lazio are also among them — and Grosso has the qualities to make Fiorentina strong, regardless of any individual result. The club have worked enormously and importantly. We must place ourselves and find an equilibrium based on what we produced for long stretches last season.”
He continued: “There was a period when the squad played enormous and beautiful football. Then we lost our way — perhaps because we had not built the foundations correctly for that style. With this summer’s additions we believe we can reproduce it and sustain it. There is a daily work that will tell us whether our impressions are right. The squad appeals to me and it is strong — but there are others who are very strong too, and so we must become very strong ourselves.”
“With Carnevali I Have Laughed on Pitchsides for Years — With Massara I Shared Beautiful Moments at Roma”
On his relationship with the directors who have built this squad alongside him: “With Carnevali we have embraced each other on pitchsides before matches many times. I have known him for years — we have been ironic with each other because we have always been rivals. With Massara I had the opportunity to share beautiful moments at Roma. He was my director there. We esteemed and cared for each other. Ottolini is an excellent person — I am getting to know him now, even if Juventus have known him for a long time. It is easy to build a relationship with people who are so balanced, calm, and knowledgeable about the dynamics of the pitch. They know the full story of what happens in training and across the week. I feel at ease.”
“This Is a Superior Juventus to Last Year — But the Injuries Have Damaged Us Enormously”
On the squad assembled this summer: “Yes — this is a Juventus of a superior level compared to last year’s. But these injuries have damaged us considerably. There is no point going around it: Yıldız is a fundamental player for us. He is the strongest — the light when there is no energy. He is the one who can pull everything from nothing. But the directors have done important work. The perfect market no longer exists — only the one you know how to adapt to. There are dynamics to understand and discover gradually, and the possibility of going to sign players that scouting has identified and watched. We are not in the conditions to pay what other clubs demand — so to have completed the squad and adapted in the final days of the window with Woltemade and Sarr means the work was done well. We are satisfied. Now it is about creating the daily development of all these things.”
“I Backed Di Gregorio Because I Consider Him a Great Professional — But Vicario Is More Physically Structured”
On the goalkeeper transition — and the explanation for his patience with Di Gregorio through a difficult season: “I backed Di Gregorio because I consider him a great professional and a strong goalkeeper with qualities of reactivity, strength, and explosiveness. Vicario has more physical structure and has the advantage of having already accumulated international experience — he has lived in a football that created threats from every direction, as it now will for Michele. When you stand in goal you see these physical players arriving into the area. Guglielmo has already lived that — so he is calmer. He has made two or three interventions worthy of his value, he is excellent with his feet, and he gives us an advantage in build-up play. Whether you like it or not, the goalkeeper is the outlet at the beginning of an action under opposition pressure.”
“Sarr Breaks Short Play with These Runs of 70 or 80 Metres — He Is Another Thoroughbred”
The manager’s appreciation for his new midfielder was vivid and specific. “He breaks short play with these insertions of 70 or 80 metres. He is someone accustomed to a field coverage that within our squad, at a certain speed, only Thuram had. With Thuram’s injury, Sarr gives us a hand. He knows every zone of the pitch because he frequents all of them — from the top-left corner to the bottom-right. You see him arriving to break the offensive line and dropping back to the defensive one. He knows how to do a little of everything — above all he covers distances. He is another thoroughbred.”
“Woltemade Is Like a Friesian Horse — Statuesque, a Touch Intimidating, and Then Absolutely Wonderful”
The passage that will be quoted and shared across Italian football for days arrived in Spalletti’s characteristic metaphorical register. “What kind of horse is he? I have a Friesian — and he seems very similar to me. He is statuesque, induces a little fear from a physical standpoint — and then he is absolutely wonderful and lets himself be stroked and ridden. He becomes very good in his relationships with his teammates too. With Nick you can play the ball to his feet — he knows how to play horizontally and can also be used vertically given his physicality and his height. It is usually very difficult to find both worlds in the same player. A two-metre striker is normally a finisher in the area but less relational within the game. He has both — and then he has this great quality of being very joyful and very celebratory in the way he inhabits the pitch. That can help him with the pressure he will encounter at this club — though we start from an advantage, because he has the same colours he wore at his previous club. I told him we had been waiting for a player of this level and this quality. He brings with him the Premier League environment — where everything is more physical, faster, and more decisive as game situations. Bringing a little of the Premier League into our squad raises our level. We are satisfied and I cannot wait for him to train fully so I can see him in the squad.”
“Douglas Luiz Has Everything to Be the Leader of the Midfield”
The most significant tactical assessment of the interview concerned Douglas Luiz — and the manager’s verdict was the most emphatically positive he has yet delivered publicly on the Brazilian. “He has everything to be the leader of the midfield — the regista, the one who occasionally sees these passing lines at a speed superior to the others and then executes them correctly. He has technique, physical contrast, and holds up against opposition aggression. He has the frequency for carrying the ball and freeing himself from pressure. He has the foot for switching play and for taking corners. He has the right face — he comes from that kind of football, whose potential and characteristics raise our level. I am having to restrain him in running — an aspect I thought he lacked. Occasionally he goes beyond the defenders’ line. His role is also to be an equilibrating element — not just in how he plays but in the positions he takes up. We now have several offensive players. Having someone who knows how to prevent the loss of possession and gives balance with his positioning means you do not concede the counter-attacks that cost enormous ground in the economy of the squad. Winning the ball back immediately through anticipation is something where, as a midfielder, he can help us.”
“Kolo Muani Reminds Me of Džeko — He Must Dig to the Bottom of His Own Possibilities”
The comparison between the two French strikers and one of the greatest centre-forwards of recent Italian football was delivered with the characteristic depth of a manager who has coached virtually everyone worth coaching. “Who does he resemble? The first name that comes to mind is Džeko. Because he was content to have scored a goal, to have scored two — to have had important chances whilst having been well integrated into the team’s play. But you must search for something to be truly demanding of yourself — to dig to the bottom of your own possibilities to become a super, an extra-level player, beyond what you have already experienced. In this quality they are similar. Once, joking with Džeko, I told him he resembled one of those two-litre bottles on the table. But then he demonstrated he was different — he was a champion precisely in his behaviour and his relationship within the squad. He showed others, or made others believe, that many of his numerous qualities belonged to different people.”
“The Europa League Is an Intricate Path — We Must Exhibit International-Level Football”
The closing passage on the competition Juventus must win if they are to restore Champions League football to the Allianz Stadium was delivered with the appropriate seriousness. “It represents an important objective. It is an intricate journey — because matches will be played every two or three days. We must be at the right level and competitive with the full squad. There will be constraints relative to UEFA’s Settlement Agreement. We must be good at exhibiting international-level football if we want to aspire to having dreams or ideas of winning it.”
