Juventus is thinking about the attack of the future and plans to invest 40 million euros in Mateta, the Frenchman from Crystal Palace who will replace the departing Vlahovic.
Juventus has chosen Jean Philippe Mateta for after Vlahovic with the desire to immediately make him the point of reference for an attack department that has suffered for a long time and which only found some response in David in the weeks surrounding New Year’s Eve. Born in 1997, French with Congo origins, Mateta is the center forward of Crystal Palace, the Premier League club he joined in 2021 and with which he showed off as a top scorer, capable of always reaching double figures in the last three seasons including the current one where he started with a bang.
Mateta is a player who has well-defined technical and tactical characteristics. He uses both his right and left foot profitably, has decent heading skills and a not to be overlooked eye for goal. He arrived relatively late at the France senior team (debut last autumn), but faced competition that is of the highest level in the Blues. In any case, he is a player who has improved over time.
With the Crystal Palace he was the protagonist of the extraordinary victories of the FA Cup and Community Shield, historic goals for a team that had never climbed so high. Purchased for less than 20 million euros in 2021, the French striker has now doubled his valuation and it is precisely around the amount to invest to bring him to Turin that Juventus is working.
At the end of the season Vlahovic will leave the Bianconeri and will do so with the free transfer formula. The Old Lady will also have to complete the buyout of Openda, which cost around 45 million euros, while David has a hefty salary which will influence corporate strategies. The progress of this first half of the year, however, has clearly told the leaders of Continassa and Spalletti that something more is needed up front to avoid the risk of being entangled with a dangerous group that will race to gain a pass for the next Champions League.
The crux is all here: anticipate the future, bending the rule to immediately sign Mateta and entrust him with the keys to the attack, or trust David and Openda and wait for Vlahovic’s final shots in black and white, once the Serbian can return to the pitch? The succession of commitments seems to suggest the first path, also because Spalletti has given a new identity to the team and pushed it to create different opportunities for each match. We need someone who knows how to transform them, avoiding what happened against Lecce.
