Juventus betrayed by its attackers, jewels of the first transfer market signed by Comolli. The numbers of David and Openda are merciless: two of them scored less than Vlahovic (who has been out for a month)
The comical penalty taken by David in the mouth of the Lecce native Falcone opened 2026 as he had closed the year before. Indeed, even worse given that between the end of November and December the Canadian striker picked up from Lille and his teammate Openda they had shown some signs of life by doing, albeit slowly, what they are handsomely paid for: scoring and helping Juventus win matches.
There is a clear problem in the Juventus attack and it is a legacy of last summer’s transfer market, the first signed by Damien Comolli. The two men chosen to ferry the Old Lady into the future, severing ties with Vlahovic without any particular worries, they are failing the field test. The paradox is in the numbers: together they have scored 5 goals so far, one less than the Serbian who, however, has been sidelined since November 29th due to a bad injury that will keep him out until spring. To then say goodbye to the company at the end of the season without bringing any money into the Juventus coffers.
Spalletti is doing important work on the Juventus inherited from Tudor, but it is clear that his fate and that of the season remains dependent on the performance of his strikers. The draw with Lecce partially nullified the mini-streak of victories against Bologna, Rome and Pisa, leaving the Bianconeri on the fringes of the Champions League zone. A highly avoidable misstep because Juventus produced it at home, through errors and omissions.
It is rare to see a team give away a goal to the opponent as Cambiaso did and then destroy everything built due to the attackers’ inaccuracy. If it wasn’t for the usual McKennie (by the way, 3 goals like David too but he does another job on the pitch), the Salento players would have taken away the full post from the Stadium and it would have been the perfect crime having allowed the hosts 25 shots, a figure of 2.69 xGoal, a penalty, a post and other enormous opportunities scattered throughout the match.
And here we return to the weight of the points. Spalletti’s ones don’t work and we’re starting to run out of time to wait for their explosion. In the championship David only scored at the end of August and Openda signed before Christmas with Roma but with a touch that would have been impossible for anyone to miss. The two of them cost around sixty million euros and only because David was taken on an (almost) zero transfer. They have long contracts and Juventus’ accounts do not allow us to imagine a new turnaround in the department next summer.
In short, a huge problem for Spalletti and for whoever took them. Speaking of the technician, he defended the gesture of Yildiz to leave the penalty to David: “I’m with those who have always agreed on this solution, because David is someone who knows how to take penalties, it’s not like he’s given it like this to be able to make him do something, to put him in a position to score a goal.” And then the Baldini-style theory that a count should be done to decide who kicks. It may be like this, but there must be a reason why all the other coaches get annoyed… when those on the pitch do their own thing.
