- Frenchman returned to Turin in 2022
- Injuries decimated first season back in Italy
- Bianconeri may have to sell top talents
WHAT HAPPENED? The World Cup-winning midfielder returned to Turin for a second spell with the Bianconeri in 2022, with a retracing of steps to Italy taken in as a free agent after reaching the end of his contract at Manchester United. A dream move soon turned into a nightmare for Pogba as he suffered an injury in pre-season that would eventually require surgery. He took in just 10 appearances across a severely disrupted campaign, and there has been talk of Juve moving him on amid links to teams in Saudi Arabia.
WHAT THEY SAID: Juve’s sporting director, Cristiano Giuntoli, has now addressed that speculation, telling reporters at his first press conference in a new job when asked for an update on Pogba: “His situation is clear, the guy is returning from a difficult season and we are waiting for him. He is fundamental for us, he has experience and quality and we rely on him to mentor the many lads we have.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: USMNT star Weston McKennie is another of those to have seen an imminent transfer speculated on, but no deal has been done and Giuntoli added on the American midfielder: “We’ve never said McKennie is out of the project, right now there are players on the market. We are in talks with a couple of clubs for [Denis] Zakaria, same as Arthur and Leonardo but we haven’t found anything that suits him [Bonucci] yet.”
He went on to say of the rumours suggesting that Juve may have to part with prized assets Federico Chiesa, Arkadiusz Milik and Dusan Vlahovic in order to avoid further financial difficulties – with all three forwards being linked with teams across Europe: “We have taken information from many clubs, but we are relying on Chiesa, Vlahovic and Milik. It’s not a secret that we must balance the books. Of course, if there are irrefutable offers, we must think about it. Technically, we strongly rely on him [Vlahovic.] We must find the right balance. They [Chiesa and Vlahovic] are unsellable for us. Right now we rely on them, but if we receive irrefutable offers we sit down and talk because we need to balance the books.”
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? A costly points deduction meant that Juve could only muster a seventh-place finish in 2022-23, with the lack of Champions League football on their schedule also set to make life difficult when it comes to retaining the services of top talent and bringing more on board.