The tactical argument for Jhon Lucumí is not simply about signing a reliable centre-back. It is about solving one of the most persistent and frustrating structural problems Luciano Spalletti has identified in his squad throughout pre-season — a problem visible in the sideline observations of attentive supporters, in the frequency with which the manager has been heard calling out to Lloyd Kelly during training matches, and now laid bare in the cold clarity of last season’s data.
Kelly’s Problem — and Why No One Else in the Squad Solves It
Those who have watched Juventus’s pre-season closely will have noticed a recurring pattern. Kelly is frequently the target of Spalletti’s on-pitch corrections — specifically when he has the ball at his feet. The manager demands more courage in breaking through the opposition’s first line of pressure, more precision, and less predictable repetition of the same safe pass. Spalletti knows he cannot rely on Bremer or Gatti for this quality either — both are defenders of a different functional type. And so the urgency around Lucumí, which many have attributed to an almost aesthetic conviction about left-footed ball-playing centre-backs, has a much more specific and measurable root.
The Data That Made the Case
The numbers from last season settle the argument. Lucumí finished 2025-26 as the Bologna player with the highest volume of passes in a team ranked seventh in Serie A for ball possession — one of Italian football’s most possession-oriented sides. His average of 57 successful passes per match at 89.6% accuracy tells part of the story. The detail that tells the rest is the quality of those passes.
Lucumí was not simply recycling the ball horizontally in safety. He averaged 4.5 successful long balls per match at 61.5% completion — a combination of volume and ambition that distinguishes him immediately from the options currently available to Spalletti. Compared directly to Juventus’s own centre-backs last season, Lucumí outperformed all of them in the metrics relating to the distribution of the ball. Kelly and Kalulu, by contrast, were stronger when advancing with the ball at their feet — a different and complementary quality, not the one the team is missing.
What Lucumí Unlocks — the Two-for-One Solution
When a centre-back can break the opposition’s press with a well-weighted long ball, or find the striker and wide players with a sharp, forward-directed pass, an entire structural problem in the team’s build-up phase is resolved. The most immediate consequence at Juventus would be to free Manuel Locatelli from the role of dropping into the defensive line to collect and distribute — a necessity he has been required to fulfil throughout pre-season because none of the centre-backs currently in the squad can consistently solve that problem themselves.
With Lucumí performing that function from his natural position in defence, Locatelli can occupy the areas in midfield where he is most dangerous. Bremer is freed from build-up responsibilities that do not suit his instincts. Kelly could even drop back to the full-back role in which Tudor originally deployed him to considerable effect at the start of last season. One signing, multiple tactical solutions. It is the definition of the “two-for-one” deal that Tuttosport’s Marco Amato identifies as the core of Spalletti’s conviction.
The Personality Factor — and 43 Matches in 2025-26
Beyond the data, Spalletti has one further piece of evidence: his own experience of Lucumí on the pitch. The combative edge the Colombian showed in Juventus-Bologna last season — including a confrontation with Samu Conceição that the manager acknowledged with quiet admiration — is the kind of personality Spalletti actively seeks in his dressing room. In a squad rebuilding its collective identity after a season of disappointment, characters who bring competitive intensity to every training session and every match are not optional extras. They are essential.
And the reliability question: 43 appearances, 3,567 minutes in 2025-26. A player who is available, who plays through discomfort, and who does not produce the injury-related absences that have undermined the squad’s continuity in recent seasons. The missing piece, after two months of painstaking preparation, is finally within touching distance.
