The Old Lady. Juventus have lifted the Serie A title six years on the trot, firmly cementing their place as the heavyweight of Italian football. Things look set to change however, with AC Milan splashing the cash in the summer, and Napoli & Inter Milan producing some fantastic football this season.
With some Juve legends coming towards the end of their careers, a period of transition is occurring at Allianz Stadium. Can you ease the club transition during this phase and continue their success on FIFA 18’s Career Mode? With no Champions League final win in over 20 years, there is still one title that is eluding I Bianconeri.
Team Rating
It’s a five star rating for Juventus on FIFA 18, with an 85 overall. This consists of 90 attack, 84 midfield and 84 defence.
Formation
You have plenty of options with the Juventus formation, with manager Massimiliano Allegri ditching the five at the back system after the departure of defensive linchpin Leonardo Bonucci to Milan. We have restored the defensive wall in our side, going for a 5-3-2, but 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 are other possible options.
The veteran Gianluigi Buffon is in goal, with the solid back five of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Andrea Barzagli, Medhi Benatia, Giorgio Chiellini and Alex Sandro looking to squeeze out opponents.
Juan Cuadrado provides the legs in midfield (92 sprint speed), and he is joined by Blaise Matuidi and Miralem Pjanic. The all Argentine strike force consists of Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain.
On the bench you should have Wojciech Szczesny (OVR 82), Benedikt Howedes (83), Mattia De Sciglio (76), Claudio Marchisio (85), Federico Bernardeschi (82), Douglas Costa (82) and Mario Mandzukic (83).
Tactics
With Juve you should be able to overpower the lesser opponents in Italy, with patient buildup. Miralem Pjanic (89 short passing), will be the key to this, as will Gonzalo Higuain (91 finishing) who scores more often than not in front of goal.
Against the tougher opponents, you should be able to counter attack, using the pace of Juan Cuadrado (91 agility) and Alex Sandro (88 sprint speed), with Paulo Dybala (85 finishing) on hand to put the ball away.
Outside of that, look to shoot from range with Dybala (88 long shots) and utilise Pjanic from set pieces (91 free kick accuracy).
Training
Training provides the opportunity to improve your players, particularly those not getting regular minutes on the pitch. Look to use the high growth players as much as possible which include Paulo Dybala (POT 93), Federico Bernardeschi (POT 88) and Daniele Rugani (POT 88).
The Transfer Market
Starting transfer market: £64 million
Starting wage budget: £331,000 a week
Who should go
It’s a tight squad at Juventus, so you don’t actually need to sell anyone. Alex Sandro is your premier left wing back, but there is a big gulf in class between him and backup Kwadwo Asamoah so you may look to bring in an upgrade. The Ghanaian international should collect your around £6 million for his 78 overall rating and save you £78,000 a week in wages.
Elsewhere, you can afford to let third choice goalkeeper Carlo Pinsoglio leave the club, but you are only looking at a transfer fee of around £620,000 for the 27-year-old. His wages are a hefty £30,000 a week.
Who to sign
New transfer budget: £70 million
New wages budget: £439,000 a week
Right wing back
33-year-old right back Stephan Lichtsteiner is the weak link in the side, so you can either move Juan Cuadrado into the wing back role, or bring in a replacement. The club lost Dani Alves over the summer, and he wasn’t replaced. The best player available is Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal, but the Spaniard won’t come cheap. You will need a massive £59.8 million to get hold of the 84-rated right back, but with a potential of 87, he may just be worth it. For hefty wages of £172,000 a week you will get the 25-year-old’s 86 spring speed, 86 sliding tackle and 84 stamina.
Alternative options:
- Lukasz Piszczek – Borussia Dortmund, Age 32, OVR 83, POT 83, Cost: £21.7 million, Wage: £58,000
- Antonio Valencia – Man United, Age 31, OVR 83, POT 83, Cost: £27.7 million, Wage: £114,000
- Alessandro Florenzi – Roma, Age 26, OVR 82, POT 84, Cost: £34.4 million, Wage: £64,000
- Hector Bellerin – Arsenal, Age 22, OVR 81, POT 88, Cost: £38.8 million, Wage: £80,000
- Ricardo Pereira – Porto, Age 23, OVR 80, POT 86, Cost: £32.9 million, Wage: £13,000
Left wing back
In disposing of Kwadwo Asamoah you need a new back-up left wing-back. Yes, Mattia De Sciglio can fill in there, but you will want a naturally left footed option to swing balls into the box. With only around £10 million to play with, you don’t get a huge amount of choice, but Villarreal’s Adrian Marin can be a superb acquisition. The 20-year-old has a release clause at £9.4 million, with his current wages just £13,000 a week. Marin’s 75 sliding tackle, 75 sprint speed and 74 interceptions will improve as his 72 overall grows to his 83 potential.
Alternative options:
- Adriano – Besiktas, Age 32, OVR 78, POT 78, Cost: £9.2 million, Wage: £41,000
- Jose Holebas – Watford, Age 33, OVR 78, POT 78, Cost: £6.7 million, Wage: £46,000
- Eliseu – Benfica, Age 33, OVR 78, POT 78, Cost: £7 million, Wage: £12,000
- Kenedy – Chelsea, Age 21, OVR 71, POT 81, Cost: £8.7 million, Wage: £42,000
- Elmir Nabiullin – Rubin Kazan, Age 22, OVR 72, POT 81, Cost: £6.1 million, Wage: £20,000
Contracts
Five men have contracts expiring at the end of the season, and your defence will not look the same if you lose three of them. It looks as if it's Gianluigi Buffon’s last season in football, but you can still offer the 89 rated goalkeeper a new deal, and you need to keep the Juve and Italy legend at the club for as long as possible.
With Leonardo Bonucci leaving for AC Milan, you cannot afford to lose Giorgio Chiellini as well. The 32-year-old’s contract is up at the end of the season, so make sure a renewal is high on your priorities. Sadly, the 36-year-old centre back Andrea Barzagli is retiring at the end of the campaign.
Stephan Lichtsteiner’s contract is also up, but you will want to keep the Swiss international at the club to make this transition period as smooth as possible. As for Kwadwo Asamoah, you should be selling the versatile 28-year-old in the summer transfer market.
Managerial objectives
The managerial objectives at Juventus are tough. After dominating Italian football for so long, the board want you to take it up a notch. For your ‘critical’ domestic and continental objectives, you will be asked win the treble. Yep, that’s the Serie A title, Coppa Nazionale and Champions Cup (Champions League). With this squad, that will be a massive test, so it's vital you start the season strong. You need to be unbeaten in the league before the Champions Cup kicks off to give yourself a chance.
For brand exposure, which is also critical, you will need to earn £176 million from shirt sales, which is fairly straightforward. If you bring in high profile transfers and score plenty with your star men, you should be all sorted here.
Youth development has a medium priority, and you will need to sign a youth academy player and play them in 50% of matches in the following season. Get a youth network set up early, and use that youngster as much as possible in training to complete this one.
The next step
The clock is running out for Juventus. After six years of dominance, the wheels are starting to fall off for The Old Lady. Leonardo Bonucci (OVR 88) leaving for rivals AC Milan is the start, and the retirements of Andrea Barzagli and Gianluigi Buffon looks next on the menu. With Giorgio Chiellini also out of contract, Juve could have an entirely different goalkeeper and back three in the space of just 12 months.
You may only have this season to win the Champions Cup, as it may take you a season or two to bring in the players you want. Winning the treble is ambitious, but Juve have a history of making things difficult for any opponent, so you do have a shot of doing the unthinkable with Juventus.
Full Juventus squad player ratings
Player | Age | Pos | Country | OVR | POT | Value | Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goalkeepers | |||||||
Gianluigi Buffon | 39 | GK | Italy | 89 | 89 | £6.5m | £97k |
Wojciech Szczesny | 27 | GK | Poland | 82 | 84 | £27.3m | £79k |
Carlo Pinsoglio | 27 | GK | Italy | 69 | 69 | £600k | £30k |
Defenders | |||||||
Giorgio Chiellini | 32 | CB | Italy | 89 | 89 | £35m | £198k |
Alex Sandro | 26 | LB LM | Brazil | 86 | 88 | £66.8m | £154k |
Andrea Barzagli | 36 | CB | Italy | 85 | 85 | £5m | £92k |
Medhi Benatia | 30 | CB | Morocco | 84 | 84 | £33.4m | 128k |
Benedikt Howedes | 29 | CB | Germany | 83 | 83 | On Loan | £44k |
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