Sergio’s Grab Bag: Baby Steps

Is that a smidge of consistency I see? Do I detect some notes of an actual style of play? Is there, perhaps, some semblance of optimism in the air?

Juventus have authored two of their most impressive wins of the Luciano Spalletti era with back-to-back solid victories in Serie A over Bologna and Roma. The victories against their fellow competitors for the top four with another win against Pafos in Champions League play thrown in for good measure is arguably the best stretch this team has had since the start of the season and a much-needed show of consistency for a team that shown that very rarely.

Granted, the Bianconeri also dropped a match against Napoli in which they looked quite decidedly a notch below of top level competition in Serie A but then again Rome wasn’t built in a day and there’s at least an upwards trend with this club. That’s not nothing.

Let’s cook.

An ode to Weston McKennie

With his appearance against Udinese a couple of weeks ago, McKennie has now appeared in 200 games (and counting) for Juventus. That is a feat that is legitimately incredible considering how often his name has been brought up in transfer rumors ever since he first signed for Juventus all the way back in 2020.

Initially signed on a classic loan with option to buy from Schalke, McKennie quickly outplayed his initial depth piece role and established himself as a starter under then manager Andrea Pirlo. After making his deal permanent, McKennie seemed destined to become a depth piece under new manager Max Allegri again, but he once again found himself getting more and more minutes under the Italian manager.

He seemed to finally be out of Juve’s plans in January 2023 when he was loaned out to Leeds United. His stint was lackadaisical to say the least, Leeds did not trigger the option to buy, McKennie was back with Juventus in the summer and somehow, someway played his way back to sticking around with the Italian club.

Pretty much every summer his name was thrown out there in transfer rumors or signaled as the odd man out and yet, every single time under different leaderships, managers and projects McKennie managed to stick around.

And, really, when you get down to it why wouldn’t he? All McKennie has done is play hard, sacrifice for the team at every instance, play wherever he is asked to play, be a good locker room presence and practically never get hurt. Who wouldn’t want a guy like that in his squad?

Congrats to Weston on 200, I’m sure he will be in dozens more transfer rumors and I can’t wait for his 400th appearance a few years from now.

Idols old and new

I was a bit surprised to see so many Paulo Dybala clips on the timeline in the run-up to the Roma matchup this past weekend. Granted, I’m as liable as anyone to watch the odd 2017 Paulo Dybala highlights if they happen to pop up and god knows the algorithm will feed you nothing, but whatever you just clicked on relentlessly if you let it. Still it was too many posts waxing poetic about the former No. 10 coming home in my opinion.

(Sometimes the algorithm does get it right, though. Shoutout to the hundreds of clips of mid aughts WWE wrestling clips I got fed this past couple of weeks because I fell into a John Cena rabbit hole. It was enjoyable to relive my childhood through 30 second bites.)

It’s not really a shock. Dybala played seven years for the club and currently stands in 10th place on the all-time scoring list. He was a captain, a leader, the best player of the league in 2019 and a beloved figure of the most successful stint for the club in the century.

The return of Dybala coupled with the release of the Alessandro Del Piero collection for the team by adidas made for an interesting couple of days in the Juventus social media sphere. Almost every post was more focused on the idols of the past than anything related to the current team. This is not a complaint, more of an observation on the current state of a bandiera for our beloved club.

(The Del Piero collection, by the way, is completely hit or miss for me. The track suit jacket is excellent and the actual warm up jersey is a good idea but horribly executed. It looks like the worst type of AI slop. Then again, it is sold out in the Juventus store as we speak so perhaps I’m once again out of sync with the tastes of the youth.)

Kenan Yildiz is on the up and up, wears the mythical number and is the clear candidate to pick up that mantle in the future. But today, he is still too young to fill that void just yet. Manuel Locatelli is the captain and is a good player, but he doesn’t really fit the mold of a bandiera. And if we are being 100% honest and we can just say things without being judged in this trust zone we have built right here right now… I don’t think he will ever be an upper echelon type of player. Very good, perhaps. Elite? I don’t think so.

Dusan Vlahovic maybe … OK, I’m kidding, let’s move on. Bremer hasn’t been here enough and his health record is spotty though if he manages to avoid more injuries and stays for a few more years he has a shot. Federico Gatti is beloved because of his style of play and rags to riches story but he’s just not good enough to become an idol either. Go down the list and there’s plenty of players that you like or feel compelled towards, but none that capture the imagination of the fan base like the aforementioned idols of yore.

A lot has to do with winning, evidently. It’s easier to mythologize guys who were part of extremely successful teams. Hell, Simone Padoin got a cult following just by being there during the title streak of last decade. But even despite the lack of success it’s kind of shocking how few players in the current Juventus squad inspire the type of following that we seemed to take for granted a couple of years back.

On the bright side, there is a hole to be filled by someone in this new Juventus era.

Time to step up, fellas.