Juventus, the bonuses are over for Spalletti: he must win. The goals from Openda and Adzic and Conte’s shadow

Put simply, beyond Elkann's words, it's clear that Spalletti's grace period from taking over midway through his first season has ended.Last season's poor finish was not held against him because, taking only the points won from his arrival in place of Tudor onwards, his Juve would have qualified for the Champions League. Responsibility for the disastrous 2025-26 season was placed entirely on Comolli and certain players. Not on the Tuscan manager, despite the way Juventus let that small advantage in the Champions League places over their pursuers slip away until only a few matchdays remained in the league season.

A new chapter starts now. Apart from failing to land Vlahovic and an experienced goalkeeper, Alisson or Dibu Martinez, Spalletti has got the reinforcements he asked for in the transfer market: Vicario, Celik, Lucumì, Alajbegovic, Ekhator and the confirmation of Boga. And someone else could still arrive between now and 1 September, in midfield or attack. The club are also trying to satisfy Spalletti on outgoing transfer business, with the departures of Openda and Adzic (curiously both on target in the first official match of the season for their respective new teams, Lyon and Sassuolo), as well as Rouhi, and with difficult talks to offload Di Gregorio, one defender from Rugani and Cabal, one midfielder from Miretti and Koopmeiners, in addition to the cutting of Arthur, and at least two from Nico Gonzalez, David, Milik and Zhegrova. Furthermore, the directors are backing Spalletti in his attempt to put faith in the rediscovered Douglas Luiz.

At 6.30pm on Sunday in Frosinone, Spalletti's first real Juventus, 100 per cent his, will take the field, and he will no longer have any margin for error. In the event of a false start, we would bet that the shadow of Antonio Conte would not take long to loom over the Juventus dugout.