Leave Turin and be reborn. Three separate stories are producing one uncomfortable pattern: Jonathan David’s second consecutive goal plus an assist for Atletico Madrid, combined with Lois Openda’s two goals and an assist for Lyon, and Vlahović’s hat-trick on his Besiktas debut — all while Juventus’s own attack remains goalless from open play — raises a question Italian football is already asking. Is it Juventus’s environment and tactical context that suppresses attacking performance?
David: 183 Career Goals, 8 at Juventus — Now Scoring Freely for Simeone
Jonathan David arrived at the Allianz Stadium last summer with 183 career goals, second only to Haaland among forwards born after 2000. At Juventus, he managed just eight goals and five assists in 46 appearances — accused of insufficient aggression in the penalty area, condemned to an increasingly peripheral role. At Atletico Madrid, in familiar surroundings with a manager who has always understood how to use a runner of his type, the scoring has resumed immediately.
Openda: The Forced Loan That Has Become a Success Story
Lois Openda, on loan at Lyon, scored for the first time on 18 August in the Champions League preliminary against Fenerbahçe — and has since added further league goals. His two goals and an assist represent a return that already exceeds his entire productive contribution to Juventus across an entire season.
Vlahović: A Hat-Trick, a Derby Goal, and a Player Vindicated
Dušan Vlahović presented himself to his new Besiktas supporters on 31 August with a hat-trick, then appeared on the scoresheet again in the derby against Fenerbahçe — four goals in 284 minutes for his new club. The numbers vindicate what he said in his Mozzart Sport interview: he left in a good mood, grateful for what Juventus gave him, and convinced he has made the right choice.
The Question That Cannot Be Avoided
Gazzetta’s central argument is stated with careful balance but genuine discomfort. Three strikers, all of whom struggled at Juventus for different reasons — tactical misfit, institutional dysfunction, contractual tension — are now performing at or close to the level that justified their original recruitment. The question of whether Juventus’s tactical structure, dressing room environment, or collective attacking identity is actively suppressing the performance of the strikers who play within it is one that Kolo Muani’s own goalless start to the season makes it impossible to entirely dismiss.
The honest answer, as Gazzetta’s analysis acknowledges, is complex. David and Openda arrived in a chaotic environment under a changing managerial succession. Vlahović spent his final season managing an injury and a contract dispute simultaneously. Kolo Muani is carrying the consequences of two years without regular football. None of these are identical situations. But the pattern — strikers who couldn’t score at Juventus finding their feet the moment they leave — is real, documented, and demands scrutiny.
