Here we go again, my friends. A new Serie A season is upon us \u2014 and it\u2019s hard to truly figure out my actual thoughts about this current state of Juventus and the excitement that comes along with that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Maybe it\u2019s a little of the World Cup ending just barely a month ago. Maybe it\u2019s because Juventus are coming off a sixth-place finish and the summer mercato has been an interesting ride for a multitude of reasons. Or maybe it\u2019s just something completely different that my tired brain isn\u2019t truly recognizing right now. (Which is completely fair, I guess.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Either way, a new campaign starts on Sunday \u2014 one that we all hope goes a little bit better than the last one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juventus begin the 2026-27 season away from home, facing one of the three newly promoted sides in the form of Frosinone. The last time Juve rolled into the Stadio Benito Stirpe, it was the first time we saw Kenan Yildiz score at the senior level and break out his Alessandro Del Piero-esque goal celebration. It brought us joy and hopes for a young rising talent to lead Juve into the future. But the next season and a half has not exactly resulted in a wonderful future as Juve built around their Starboy of a young No. 10. Instead, Juve enter this new season with rather muted expectations \u2014 at least coming from those of us on the outside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rather than being the club that fights for league titles and as many trophies as they possibly can, Juve will take the field on Sunday as just another candidate to try and qualify for the Champions League next season. And the unfortunate part in that is it just feels like the truth unless something crazy happens and they catch lightning in a bottle as the season goes on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
For now, though, it\u2019s just about getting off to a winning start. For a team that has not done a ton of winning the last few years, who knows how much one win against a club that was just in Serie B a few months ago will mean. You just hope that it will maybe get a little bit of belief going that they can ultimately be one of those top four teams come the springtime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juve have certainly spent a good amount of money this summer even with there being no Champions League football on the schedule right before we head off into the first international break of the season. They\u2019ve spent well over \u20ac100 million to try and give manager Luciano Spalletti a more competitive squad to work with \u2014 although, as we know, a very large chunk of that money has come from the two attacking players they brought in right before they went on their preseason tour earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of new things this season, firstly the players who can create things and find solutions,\u201d Spalletti said during his pre-match press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s always an evolution, but you have to be good at adapting to this constant change. We have to think, reason and go into things in greater depth. I always try to keep myself up to date personally, and I\u2019ll try to do that during the season as well, depending on our commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But facing a club that is playing its first game in Serie A following promotion is always an interesting kind of endeavor \u2014 and facing Frosinone is going to be no different. Their stadium is going to be absolutely jacked up because it\u2019s the season opener and they\u2019re back in Serie A, and it comes against Juventus on top of it. You know what they would love more than anything? Taking points off the most successful club that Italy has.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter if this current iteration of Juve is far off title contention as we enter a new season. Frosinone is a recently promoted club who would love nothing more than to pretty much ensure that Spalletti\u2019s squad basically picks up where it left off last season \u2014 and that\u2019s with nothing really all that positive taking place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Frosinone have been quite active in trying to upgrade their roster for their return to Serie A, including splashing out a club-record fee for attacking midfielder Romano Schmid from Werder Bremen. Schmid will likely sit in a classic trequartista role in Frosinone\u2019s 3-4-1-2 formation, and be the man who makes things happen and test a Juventus defense that hasn\u2019t always looked totally solid during the handful of preseason friendlies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s a tricky matchup for sure \u2014 and one that Juve will certainly have to manage well to come away with three points to open the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But the funny thing is, Juve opened the season quite well last season. Or, at least we can say they won some games to begin the 2025-26 season. When it went bad, it went bad in a hurry and ultimately saw Igor Tudor dismissed from his job before the month of October came to an end. There was a good start in there, though. I get that it\u2019s easy to forget because of \u2026 well, everything else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Spalletti has had a full preseason. He has gotten a striker he has wanted since the winter mercato. He has gotten the center back signing he long desired, too. The summer mercato has not been great, but it hasn\u2019t been a total bust (on paper) by any means.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So now, with the transfer window still open, we get to see the games start for real. The first of 38 matchdays is nearly upon us. As a wise man on this website said a little earlier, it\u2019s time to get hurt again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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- Unfortunately, Spalletti will not be entering the opening game of the season with a full roster of available players. The most notable one is Federico Gatti, who has been dealing with an ankle injury ever since he was (inadvertently?) taken out by a fan as part of the field storming at the beginning of the second half of the family match against the Next Gen squad on Monday.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Also out injured is young striker Jeff Ekhator, who has been training training away from the group for much of the past week.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Not called up for the season opener is goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, who is set to finalize his loan move to Premier League side Bournemouth in the next couple of days.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The other goalkeeper who is (likely) on the way out, Mattia Perin, has been called up by Spalletti. Perin, however, is not expected to start and this is likely merely out of precaution more than anything else as he looks set to join Palermo in the near future.<\/span><\/li>\n
- A player who also got called up to face Frosinone? Nico Gonzalez! He will be wearing the classic winger kit number of 31.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Spalletti didn\u2019t give many clues when it comes to his starting lineup during his pre-match press conference, but he did say that two summer signings will play: Randal Kolo Muani and Guglielmo Vicario.<\/span><\/li>\n
- With Khephren Thuram still working his way back into full fitness \u2014 he didn\u2019t appear in any of Juve\u2019s friendlies \u2014 the double pivot expected to face Frosinone is Manuel Locatelli and Douglas Luiz.<\/span><\/li>\n
- The benefit of this being the season opener? Nobody is at risk of yellow card suspensions. Enjoy it while it lasts!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
\nThere\u2019s a lot of ways we can go with this just because it\u2019s the first game of a brand new season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nUltimately, though, you can\u2019t win games if you don\u2019t score goals. And Juventus just spent nearly three entire transfer windows trying to bring in the same striker. They may have gotten that striker, but it wasn\u2019t cheap nor without plenty of waiting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd with that price tag now comes expectations \u2014 and a lot of that \u2014 now on the shoulders of Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTURIN, ITALY – AUGUST 17: Randal Kolo Mani of Juventus during the Pre-season Friendly match between Juventus and Juventus Next Gen at Allianz Stadium on August 17, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Alberto Gandolfo – Juventus\/Juventus FC via Getty Images)<\/figcaption>Juventus FC via Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \nKolo Muani will be leading the line on Sunday evening. This is what we know, and it\u2019s what we expected to see considering how he is very much the clear-cut top striker on this roster. There\u2019s no more competing with Dusan Vlahovic for minutes like we saw during RKM\u2019s first stint in Turin. Instead, Vlahovic has taken his act to Turkiye and Kolo Muani has taken over the No. 9 shirt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIt\u2019s something that some are in favor, others are not convinced by and others are just waiting to see so that they\u2019re not jumping to conclusions just yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nBut, guess what? Juventus need the version of Kolo Muani that was a genuine threat during his first stint with the club. Not the one that was looking unhappy with Tottenham Hotspur \u2014 mainly because a return to Juve didn\u2019t materialize \u2014 for much of last season. Instead, they need the one that is happy and playing like it because he\u2019s now back at the club he\u2019s spent the better part of the last 18 months wanting to come back to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nBoth for on-field success and to simply justify shelling out so much money for him this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nMaybe banking on Kolo Muani being happy to be back at Juventus is simplistic and everything. We know that there\u2019s a whole lot of reasons as to why his loan spell at Spurs was not very good at all. But he\u2019s back at Juve now and will get every opportunity to show he is a striker who can lead this team to better days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nOne season opener will be the determining factor, but a strong start to his return to Juve can only help start to potentially change the viewpoint that he is not that kind of player. Only one way to find out, right?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen: <\/strong>Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nWhere:<\/strong> Stadio Benito Stirpe, Frosinone, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nOfficial kickoff time:<\/strong> 6:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 5:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, 11:30 a.m. Central time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nTelevision:<\/strong> NBC Universo (United States); TLN (Canada).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nOnline\/Streaming:<\/strong> Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>, CBS Sports Golazo Network, fuboTV, NBC Universo NOW, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nOther live viewing options can be found here<\/strong><\/a>, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky<\/strong><\/a>. If you haven\u2019t already, join the community<\/strong><\/a> on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
- Also out injured is young striker Jeff Ekhator, who has been training training away from the group for much of the past week.<\/span><\/li>\n