Candidates to potentially replace Massimiliano Allegri at Juventus

I’ve admitted in the past that my opposition to Massimiliano Allegri as manager of Juventus has reached meme levels.

But there is way, way too much smoke in the air these days not to think that the end of Allegri 2.0 might really be at hand. Between the team’s abysmal form over the last two months, only gaining seven points in their last eight games, at least half of which have come against teams firmly in the relegation fight. The lack of results has been coupled with a steep decline in the team’s attitude, to the point where questions are now being asked about whether or not the coach has lost the locker room.

The team has very pointedly declined thus far to begin negotiations on an extension for Allegri, whose contract expires after next season. The viability of Allegri as a lame duck coach next year would be slim — especially considering the fact that the Club World Cup would begin only two weeks before Allegri’s officially ends.

There could be any number of reasons Juve could need a new coach at the end of the season. The new front office could, as new front offices are often wont to do, want to make their own mark on the coach’s office. Allegri may also decide to leave of his own accord. He may not dovetail with the current board the way he did with Andrea Agnelli — something that was speculated on earlier in the season. He may decide that a fat paycheck from the Saudi league might be more appealing one year later. Heck, he could turn out to be the next man up if Luciano Spalletti lays an almighty egg at the Euros this coming summer.

If Allegri is replaced this summer, the next question is simple: who replaces him? That’s what we’re here to look at today. There are a couple of clear candidates to take up the job should it become available. There are also a few names that will come up in the media even if their appointment will be less than realistic, and there’s even a name or two that people might not be thinking of who could become a candidate if the manager’s office opens up.

Who are those coaches? Let’s take a closer look.

The Unlikely

First, let’s talk about two names that might well pop up in the media, even though it’s quite unlikely that they’ll actually be the solution.

The first, of course, is Antonio Conte. Given his long history with the club, and the fact that it was he who came in and turned things around the last time things looked quite so bad at Juventus, there will be speculation about his return from the moment Allegri were to leave.

But he’s just not the solution right now. Juve is in need of a long-term project, and Conte has proven famously transient. How well he’ll function under the team’s current financial conditions (€100 restaurant, etc., etc.) is another question. If Juve had a more established roster that just needed a kick in the pants, Conte might be a viable short-term solution, but that is very much not the case right now. It’s time for the club to look forward, not into its past.

Another name that may be speculated on is Thomas Tuchel. His year at Bayern Munich has been an unmitigated disaster that will almost certainly end in his sacking, but he’s still a name and he’s still got a Champions League trophy, so he’ll likely be connected in some way with any high profile job. Still, though, it’s all but certain the enigmatic German won’t be a serious candidate.

The Serious Contenders

Thiago Motta

Of the first of the serious contenders, Motta is the name on everyone’s lips.

The Brazilian-born former Italy international took over for the late Sinisa Mihajlovic last season in somewhat controversial fashion, given the state of Mihajlovic’s health at the time of the change. But Motta has since turned Bologna into an unlikely force in Serie A. After a ninth-place finish last year, the Rossoblu have catapulted themselves into the top four — a feat even more notable when you consider that they only had one win and seven points at the end of September.

Most impressive is the fact that this Bologna side is largely unchanged from the one that finished midtable a season ago. The best of coaches makes the players he has greater than the sum of their parts, and Motta has certainly done that with an attacking style that doesn’t skimp on defense. He operates mainly out of a 4-2-3-1, but has almost always worked with wingers in some form, which could bring the best out of a number of players on the current Juve roster, especially the wide players like Federico Chiesa, Samuel Iling-Junior, Timothy Weah, and the returning Matias Soule.

There don’t seem like there are a ton cons to hiring Motta. That’s exemplified in the fact that a lot of fans I’ve spoken to have defaulted to “he’s an Interista” when voicing opposition to him. While Motta did indeed play for the Nerazzurri, including for their Champions League-winning 2009-10 side, he spent twice as much time during his playing career at both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, making almost 150 more appearances with the latter than he did with Inter. That shouldn’t be a consideration in terms of his suitability. Another argument against him I’ve heard is the fact that he hasn’t coached in a European competition, but he’s had enough deep runs into the Champions League as a player to know what will be required of him.

What might prevent Juve from hiring Motta is the competition. He’s certainly to be in demand. Any number of Premier League teams may want him this summer if they have managerial openings. If AC Milan is foolish enough to part ways with Stefano Pioli, they’ll be in play for him as well. Barcelona may also be keen — he’s a La Masia graduate and played for them for the first six years of his career — but they also have well-known financial limitations at the moment. He could also feel duty-bound to stay at Bologna if they stay in the Champions League spots.

Ultimately, Motta is the top candidate for replacing Allegri, and with good reason.

Photo by sportinfoto/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Vincenzo Italiano

There’s a lot of impetus behind the idea that Vincenzo Italiano will leave Fiorentina at the end of the season. Whether or not the untimely death of club director Joe Barone will change that scenario remains to be seen, but if he does become available he’s almost certain to be on the radar in a Juventus coaching search.

Italiano has been at Fiorentina since 2021 and has orchestrated some of the club’s best seasons in a decade or more. He got the Viola into back a European competition in 2022, and took them all the way to the final of the Conference League, where they lost to West Ham United on a last-second goal.

Italiano has made his name as an offensive coach. While Fiorentina has developed a reputation as inconsistent in the attacking third over the last two seasons, that has a lot more to do with spotty finishing than chance creation, an issue that has plagued Italiano since he lost his star striker named (***checks notes***) Dusan Vlahovic.

The presence of Vlahovic is perhaps the most emphatic argument in favor of Italiano. It was under him that the Serbian striker became the prospect he was when Andrea Agnelli and Maurizio Arrivabene found €80 million under a couch cushion somewhere and gave it to Fiorentina to pry their star man loose. He plays the kind of downhill, attacking style that makes Vlahovic his best self, and if Juve want to see a true return on their massive investment, putting him back under the tutelage of the man who produced the best form of his career isn’t the worst idea in the world. His need for wingers once again means lots of opportunities for growth amongst Juve’s s corps of wide players.

Italiano is another coach whose cons are minimal compared to his pros. All things being equal, I’d probably lean for Motta for the job, but Italiano is more than solid as a second choice.

Raffaele Palladino

This is one of the more intriguing options for the future.

Palladino’s rise in the Italian coaching ranks has been rapid. At the start of last season, he was coaching the Primavera for Monza. In the middle of September, after the Biancorossi had just one point in their first six games, he was given a full promotion to the first team to replace Giovanni Stroppa. His first career match as a first team coach was against Juventus — and he won. He beat Juve in the return, too, and ended up taking as team that looked a sure relegation team at the beginning of the year to an impressive 11th place finish.

With nine games left this year, he’s actually done one better, currently sitting in 10th despite losing key contributors like Carlos Augusto and Nicolo Rovella. It’s a feat of coaching as impressive, if not more so, than Motta, done with a fraction of even Bologna’s meager budget and less talent at his disposal as well.

Palladino has mostly used a 3-4-2-1 setup in charge of Monza, which is a less natural fit to Juve’s star players than some of the other candidates on this list, but certainly more so than Allegri’s current 3-5-2. Like Motta, he’s gotten a far greater sum out of the parts at his disposal, and it would be very interesting indeed to see how he would approach a roster so much more natively gifted than the one he has now.

It also doesn’t hurt that he came up in Juve’s youth system and 10 times in 51 games over four years with the first team. He knows what it’s like to be in the Juventus locker room and what’s expected at the club. It’d be a big jump in expectation, but Palladino has shown himself capable thus far of handling big jumps. I get the feeling he’ll coach Juventus at some point, and it might as well be now.

Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images

The Dark Horse

There’s one more name that might crop up if things shake out right. It’s one that I’ve suggested could get the job before, and the conditions could once again be right for him.

That man is Didier Deschamps.

Deschamps has spent a dozen years at the head of the French National team. He’s one of the greatest players in his country’s history, and one of the most decorated. He’s one of only three men who has won the Champions League, European Championship, and World Cup as a player, one of only three to have won the World Cup as both a player and a manager.

He spent five years at Juve as a player, making three Champions League finals and winning one, then managed the team during their year in the wilderness in Serie B in 2006-07. He won the second division to secure instant promotion for the team, but left after a falling out with the board. He’s since talked about his regrets over that decision, and the possibility of his return is always there.

After 12 years with Les Bleus, it feels like Deschamps’s chapter with France is finally coming to an end. He’s only 55, and if he wants to keep coaching immediately, coming home to Juve might be an attractive option.

Now, I’ve been bad at predicting whether Deschamps will leave France. I’ve expected him to step away each of the last two times his contract has come up, and each time he’s renewed. But this year feels different, like a last shot at the one international trophy that’s eluded him. If he does leave, getting a coach who has won almost everything there is to win to helm the next project wouldn’t be half bad at all, and it’s something Juve would have to consider should the manager’s office be vacant after the season is over.