Since reaching the Champions League final in 2015, Juventus have seen their once incredible mid-field slowly slip into disarray. Despite losing to Barcelona in that showpiece fixture, there was little doubt that the “M-V-P” trio of Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo was among the very best units in the world.
That they also had Paul Pogba backing them up only served to highlight that strength, but slowly the big stars moved on. Pirlo went into MLS-style semi-retirement, Vidal sped off to Bayern Munich, while the Frenchman headed back to Manchester United just over twelve months ago. Marchisio – a Turin native – was soon the last man standing.
Yet he suffered with a serious knee injury, leaving new arrivals Miralem Pjanić and Sami Khedira holding the fort. Desperately short of quality in the middle of the pitch, Max Allegri switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation back in January, ending his career-long focus on a three-man midfield. It worked for quite some time, but in Cardiff and Rome the shortcomings of that duo were cruelly laid bare for all to see.
Real Madrid shredded the Bianconeri in the Champions League Final, running rampant as they re-duced Khedira and Pjanić to chasing shadows. The fact Lazio repeated that on Sunday in the Supercoppa Italiana to run out 3-2 winners underlined just how bad the situation had become, even if Juventus fans had recognised that a midfield signing was required for over a year.
Yet the wait inexplicably continued. Late moves for Hernanes and Tomas Rincon – both of whom have since moved on – only added to the frustration felt by those same supporters, their anger growing even further when a deal for Axel Witsel collapsed. Back in January, the Belgian was ac-tually at the club’s headquarters, only for his then-club Zenit St Petersburg to cancel the transfer at the very last moment, leaving Juve to field the likes of Mario Lemina and Stefano Sturaro all too often.
Rumoured moves for Emre Can, Steven N’Zonzi and Corentin Tolisso never materialised, while Director General Beppe Marotta promising “a Gonzalo Higuain for the midfield” was the source of even more bitterness. The club spent €90 million to sign the Argentinian striker, prompting dreams of perhaps capturing Italy international Marco Verratti from Paris Saint-Germain, only to see this summer leave them still waiting for any quality midfield addition to be made.
Make no mistake, Juventus fans are desperate to see Gigi Buffon lift the Champions League trophy. Yet they are arguably more jealous when seeing Bayern slam down their money and take the player they want early in a transfer window than they are when forced to watch Sergio Ramos cel-ebrate in Cardiff. Yes, despite the quality squad Marotta has assembled and the impressive trophy haul of the Old Lady over the last six years, his failure to address the growing need for a strong midfielder burns very deep.
But it seems that loss to Lazio prompted him to finally take action. On Wednesday, Blaise Matuidi landed in Turin for a medical, regular observers of Ligue 1 – such as Andy Brassell (see above tweet) convinced that it was a masterstroke by the Bianconeri. Due to his age, doubts can be raised over his ability to contribute in the long term, but he arrives as a fully fledged international with a wealth of experience, a player who will be ready to slot straight into the starting XI whenever neces-sary.
He brings the exact kind of dynamic energy so sorely lacking in Juve’s last two competitive fix-tures, playing 52 matches last term but never looking tired or unable to press and harry the opposi-tion. “Even at 30 years old, Blaise Matuidi will still be one of the fittest players at Juventus,” French football expert Andrew Gibney told The Sportsman as news of the deal broke. “His engine is out-standing. No matter the game, or the result, he'll still be chasing the ball deep into injury time.”
Having watched Khedira regress and become even slower than before, that has to be good news, while watching even the briefest highlights of Matuidi showcases those skills to great effect. There has been much talk of Allegri reverting to a three-man midfield again, but many believe the Toulouse native can be just as effective in the current system.
“In a 4-2-3-1 he would obviously need to play on the left of the midfield two,” Andrew Gibney con-tinued. “Either helping to protect the defence, but offer support up top. Left-footed, he is an excellent box-to-box midfielder who loves getting past the forwards and bursting into the box. PSG sometimes struggle to breakdown stubborn defences, but quite often it was his runs that made the difference as he was able to get on the end of crosses. He's decent in the air, can shoot with accuracy and is a very good all-round midfielder.”
The statistics support those claims too, Matuidi averaging 2.2 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 last term according to WhoScored.com. However, because of PSG’s domi-nance in that competition, perhaps the fact he registered three tackles and 1.3 interceptions per 90 minutes in the Champions League is much more noteworthy.
He also connected with 92.4% of his passes, successful with 44.5 attempts per 90 in that same European competition. It is easy to say the Frenchman plays simple balls, but it is perhaps instead more accurate to say he makes solid decisions, giving the ball to a more skilful and creative team-mate at the earliest opportunity.
That approach cannot be undervalued, and is arguably the most notable flaw in Khedira’s play over recent months. The German is ponderous in possession, a trait that worked fine in Juve’s previous 3-5-2 formation, his ability to slow down play allowing the wing-backs to press forward and his fel-low midfielders to join the buildup.
In a 4-2-3-1 formation however, there are instantly at least four players ahead of him, all looking to create an opening before the opposition can regroup. With Matuidi winning challenges quickly, moving the ball on and then motoring upfield, the likes of Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa and Federico Bernardeschi will be able to penetrate and exploit spaces.
His defensive diligence will also enable him to fill in whenever rampaging full-back Alex Sandro runs beyond him, allowing the Coach to field actual wingers instead of pressing Mario Mandžukić into service out wide.
Possessing a skill set that is much better suited to the approach Allegri is seeking to instill, Blaise Matuidi may not be the long-awaited “Higuain in midfield,” but he’s certainly an upgrade on those he will be tasked with replacing.
