\n<\/p>\n
Ah, yes, the summer doldrums. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the time period to go nuts over loosely-sourced, head-grabbing articles created exclusively to get clicks, throw wild theories out there about squad construction and to pretend you have deep scout level knowledge of some fresh transfer target that you weren\u2019t even aware existed until hours ago. <\/p>\n
Yes, theoretically we could sign Lionel Messi on a free! It is technically possible! Does it warrant a whole lot of consideration? Very clearly not, but hey, anything is fair game when it comes to feeding the content machine. <\/p>\n
And speaking of the aforementioned content machine, that does not change for your correspondent and your friendly neighborhood blog here at BWRAO. Given that transfer news is most of what we will be gnawing on for the foreseeable future before the new Sere A season starts up, why not take a stroll down memory lane and count down a few chosen transfers that, to put it charitably, did not quite pan out.<\/p>\n
We will be recounting the worst transfer moves for Juventus in the last 10 seasons. And look, sometimes we are too harsh with our front office members. The art of transfers are not as cut and dry as your latest FIFA save might be. Not every flop signing is built the same as others and therefore we will not judge all the moves the same.<\/p>\n
So, to promote fairness and transparency we will judge the moves based on this super scientific, proprietary formula to determine which moves were truly the cream of the crop of badness:<\/p>\n
Every category will be graded from 1 to 5 points, with five being the worst to determine truly the worst transfer dealings of the last decade for the Bianconeri<\/em>. <\/p>\n There\u2019s lots to discuss, so let\u2019s get right to it.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s cook.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: Free from <\/strong>Liverpool<\/strong><\/p>\n A young and talented German midfielder on a free? Yes, please! <\/p>\n Unfortunately for Can, it was not meant to be, as he was dropped in a dysfunctional midfield situation during the last season of Max Allegri\u2019s 1.0 era and never quite found his footing. He was quickly shipped off to Borussia Dortmund where he bounced back and became a key cog in a team that made the Champions League final a couple of years ago. <\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac8 million from Genoa<\/strong><\/p>\n The Venezuelan international was a low-cost flier brought in during the January transfer window during Juve\u2019s last true relevant European campaign. It wasn\u2019t like the expectations were sky high for him when the Bianconeri<\/em> signed him from a mid-table Genoa side to the thick of multiple title battles, but it was a relatively disappointing reinforcement considering that Juventus had a very real shot at a treble and you would have liked to see a little bit more of a risk in terms of bringing extra firepower.<\/p>\n Rincon was fine, but his Juve stay was short-lived, getting loaned to Torino the following season.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac29.4 million from Dinamo Zagreb<\/strong><\/p>\n I hate to do it to my beloved Marko Pjaca, but I straight up forgot Juventus paid almost \u20ac30 million for the young Croat and he played for the club for less than a year. His career never recovered from two ACL injuries, so it\u2019s not entirely his fault, but that\u2019s a pretty steep price to pay for the very little in return they got from Pjaca.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac40 million from Valencia<\/strong><\/p>\n He did have one incredible first half of the 2018-19 season, I will give him that much! <\/p>\n Cancelo\u2019s high-flying offensive panache brought a jolt of energy to the team during the beginning of a promising season. Inconsistency and a complete lack of defensive ability, however, made him a liability for the second half of that year and quickly fell out of favor.<\/p>\n His lasting legacy for the team is the fact that he got swapped for Danilo in a deal with Manchester City. Despite being looked as a relatively lackluster return at the time, Danilo ended up being a supremely productive player for Juventus and captaining the Bianconeri<\/em> for a couple of seasons as well. In the end Cancelo definitely did not live up to the \u20ac40 million price tag.<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s get into our Top 10, starting with some newcomers …<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac58.4 million from Atalanta<\/strong><\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac51.5 million from <\/strong>Aston Villa<\/strong><\/p>\n In theory, these two could still turn it around. So they are the only two that make it into our ranking without grades because it could still change and there is an argument to be made that it\u2019s too early.<\/p>\n I\u2019m talking about both of these guys at the same time because their failures were markedly similar. Two of the marquee signings of the great summer splash of Cristiano Giuntoli last season were \u2014 unfortunately \u2014 two of the biggest flops we have seen. <\/p>\n Both were big-money transfers that came in with the hopes of finally solving the big midfield inadequacies that have plagued the club arguably since the Cardiff final. Koopmeiners was coming off a banner season in which he helped deliver Atalanta the Europa League and was a key cog in one of the best seasons in the club\u2019s history. Luiz had an outstanding season in the Premier League as well and it earned him a starting nod for the Brazilian national team in that summer\u2019s Copa America.<\/p>\n While they were a very good fit in Thiago Motta\u2019s system in theory, they were both consistently outplayed by Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram and neither of them ever managed to re-establish themselves once they got relegated to the bench. <\/p>\n Koopmeiners was given plenty of chances to play all over the field under Motta, but the results remained consistently underwhelming until an injury late in the season finished his season. <\/p>\n Luiz ranks higher only because he managed to underwhelm just as much \u2014 if not more \u2014 than Koopmeiners, but had the added benefit of generating a mini-controversy when he was spotted leaving a nightclub late in the night during Juve\u2019s worst spell of the season while he was nursing a minor injury. <\/p>\n Again, they are still Juventus players and there is a chance that under new coach Igor Tudor they bounce back and go back to the form they have showed in previous stops, but all things considered the early returns have been as bad as it gets.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac40 million from <\/strong>Fiorentina<\/strong><\/p>\n Investment: 3\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Team Fit: 2\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Performance: 3\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Locker Room Drama: 1\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Total: 9 Points<\/strong><\/p>\n With all due respect to friend of the blog handyvandy, Bernardeschi was the first big-money flop from Fiorentina of recent memory … and unfortunately not the last. <\/p>\n Brought in during the aftermath of the Cardiff loss, Bernardeschi was supposed to naturally fit into Allegri\u2019s five-star system as one of the wide players with fellow 2017 signee Douglas Costa. While he initially played adequately, the defeat against Real Madrid along with the quick deterioration of Sami Khedira forced Allegri to quickly ditch the formation and Bernardeschi became a man without a position. <\/p>\n He deambulated between the wings, midfield and even a short stint as fullback while failing to really establish himself in any of those roles. His last chance came under Maurizio Sarri and while he had a couple shining moments \u2014 the Atletico Madrid second leg, for example \u2014 he finished the season with over 40 appearances, most of them coming from the wings and he had more yellow cards than goals created. Pretty rough stuff.<\/p>\n Bernardeschi was exiled to Major League Soccer in the summer of 2022. After a reasonably productive stint with Toronto FC, he has recently returned to Italy and officially signed with Bologna as their new No. 10.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: \u20ac13 million from <\/strong>Inter Milan<\/strong><\/p>\n Investment: 2\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Team Fit: 3\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Performance: 4\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Locker Room Drama: 1\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Total: 10 Points<\/strong><\/p>\n Did I make this whole list just to remember how crappy the Hernanes signing was? Was the 10-year cutoff line a neat, round number or just enough so our old Brazilian pal could make an appearance? That is up for you to decide.<\/p>\n (Yes, the answer to both is yes.)<\/em><\/p>\n One of the many low-risk lottery tickets that the Juventus regime took in order to fix the midfield and give Allegri his much-desired trequartista, the peculiarity with Hernanes is that we knew he wasn\u2019t going to pan out from the jump. I can\u2019t remember many cases in which universally the consensus was that this was a poor attempt at solving a glaring problem. <\/p>\n Hernanes played sparingly during two seasons in which he accrued 35 appearances and all of two goals in all competitions. <\/p>\n (To be fair to himm, one of those was a banger and his celebration had a lot of panache. If you are going to score once a year might as well make it count.)<\/em><\/p>\n There was nothing more terrifying than to see him start during a big match during that spell and thanks to the quickly deteriorating midfield during his two seasons that was unfortunately more often than you would have liked.<\/p>\n Transfer Fee: Free from Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n Investment: 1\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Team Fit: 4\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Performance: 4\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Locker Room Drama: 1\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Total: 10 Points<\/strong><\/p>\n Man, we took a lot of swings and misses in midfield, huh? <\/p>\n There\u2019s three good things that can be said about Ramsey\u2019s stint in black and white: this video and the fantastic \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d meme that it spawned:<\/p>\nHonorable Mentions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Emre Can, midfielder, 2018-19 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Tomas Rinc\u00f3n, midfielder, 2016-17 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Marko Pjaca, winger, 2016-17 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Joao Cancelo, fullback, 2018-19 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
10. Teun Koopmeiners, midfielder, 2024-25 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
9. Douglas Luiz, midfielder, 2024-25 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
8. Federico Bernardeschi, winger, 2017-18 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
7. Hernanes, midfielder, 2015-16 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
6. Aaron Ramsey, midfielder, 2019-20 season<\/strong><\/h3>\n