Thursday evening left the Juventus directors with dark faces — the victory snatched away by the VAR error at 90 minutes, the mood accordingly grim. All are working to find solutions and help Spalletti’s squad recover, starting today at Lecce. But the Rennes match also provided a specific scouting opportunity, and the Juventus hierarchy took full advantage of it. At least three or four Rennes players caught their attention. One above all others.
Mahamadou Nagida — the Name That Has Landed at the Continassa
The player who most concentrated the attention of Carnevali, Massara and Ottolini during the 2-2 draw is Mahamadou Nagida, Rennes’s left-back. Born in 2005, a Cameroon international, Nagida had a high-scoring night at the Allianz Stadium: he covered the left flank relentlessly, created several opportunities going forward, was directly involved in the build-up to the equaliser that made it 1-1, and won the penalty that Woltemade converted for the 2-2. In other words: the player who caused Juventus most difficulty was also the most visible answer to their most urgent structural need.
Left-back has been Juventus’s top January priority since before the summer — Tagliafico and Aït-Nouri have both been in the frame, dialogue with Manchester City has been reported — and the González and Çelik injuries have sharpened that urgency to a point where a left-back who can operate as a wing-back in the 3-5-2 is now critical rather than merely desirable. Nagida, 21 years old, capable in both attacking and defensive phases, profile and age aligned with Carnevali’s explicit goal of building a squad around young Italian-compatible talent, lands in that context with considerable force.
Massara’s Existing Knowledge — the AC Milan Connection
The most operationally significant detail of the Tuttosport report: Nagida is not a new name to Frederic Massara. Juventus’s sporting director was an AC Milan executive during the season when Nagida arrived in Ligue 1 in 2023, joining Rennes directly from Cameroon at the age of 18. Massara would have been in the market at that time and has a pre-existing knowledge of the player that gives Juventus a specific advantage in any January approach. No introductory phase, no scouting-from-scratch exercise. The profile is already mapped, the valuation is already understood, the contact-building can happen immediately.
“Drive, Pace and a Big-Club Engine” — and the Non-EU Slot Consideration
The second and third chapters elaborate on the profile that so impressed on Wednesday night — “spinta, gamba e motore da big” — and address the specific regulatory consideration that comes with any signing of a non-EU player in the January window. The slot management dimension, relevant to a club that already has several non-EU players under contract, is handled in the third chapter behind the paywall. The practical implication: a January move for Nagida is structurally possible but requires careful management of the squad’s non-EU roster, and Juventus are not the only club watching. The combination of pace, drive, and the specific qualities that made him so effective against Juventus on Thursday means competition will arrive quickly.
