Juventus, Spalletti cannot fail to recover Woltemade

From the start of the season, Spalletti has always picked Kolo Muani as his reference striker ahead of the other forward. The Frenchman has started all 5 out of 5 Serie A matches, but he has yet to find the net and has only one assist to his name, in the 3-2 defeat against Sassuolo.

Even so, and despite Spalletti making no secret of his preference in principle for centre-forwards with different characteristics, it will still be him who leads the line for Juventus after the international break in Cagliari.

Unlike his team-mates, the former PSG and Tottenham player was not called up by Zinedine Zidane's France and has been able to work at 100% (aside from the hand problem) under the manager's orders. In theory, he could be the sharpest option in an attack that has instead seen Alajbegovic, Conceicao, Zhegrova, Nico Gonzalez and Nick Woltemade all called up by their national teams.

The good news for Spalletti end there, unfortunately, because while Kolo Muani has made progress physically and mentally under the manager, the German centre-forward returns from the two matches with the Germany national team facing even more uncertainty. The positive signs he showed in the Europa League against Nec, which had already started to fade in the four minutes he played against Atalanta, went up in smoke with that close-range miss against Serbia, which also damaged him in the eyes of public opinion and the press following a Germany side in the middle of a full revamp and therefore under the spotlight.

Nick Woltemade is not a Juventus player. He arrived on a dry loan from Newcastle and there is no option to buy, but getting him back for Spalletti is a mission that cannot be put on hold. In physical terms, the German is unique in the Juventus squad. More importantly, with nine matches to come in the space of a month, and Juventus also playing Europa League games on Thursdays with less recovery time, he will be not just a natural alternative to Kolo Muani, but a necessary one.

Right now, his impact on the team in the league has been almost non-existent: 0 goals and 0 assists, but also an xG of 0.27, a very low figure for a striker. That comes from one shot on target and two off target, including one big chance missed. Woltemade has also managed just one big chance created in his link-up play with his team-mates, along with 0.05 xA (expected assists). The figure that worries Spalletti most, though, is the three times he has lost possession, along with only 50% of aerial duels won and 71% of tackles won.

That shows his condition, physically but above all mentally, is still a long way from its best. Spalletti needs to get Woltemade back. Turning him again into a potentially European-level bomber and shaking off the label of being only a social media phenomenon is the toughest mission he faces.