Deadline Day Comes and Goes With Juventus Doing Nothing Serious

Based on how the first 30 days in January went, expecting fireworks on the final day of the transfer window might have been the wrong line of thinking. Not because Juventus weren't trying to improve its squad, but the fact that nothing had materialized earlier. It isn't easy to get things done in an eight-hour span, especially complicated deals like some of the ones thrown out by the Italian press.

And once the transfer deadline came and went, the news coming out of Turin had more to do with it being Fabio Quagliarella's 30th birthday rather than players coming in to boost the squad.

Rumors on Twitter spread like wildfire. Rumors in the Italian press only added to that. But in the end, nothing happened. The Juventus official website was racking up hits non-stop, but nothing really happened. No striker other than the Nicolas Anelka signing.

I saw many people expressing their disapproval of how Beppe Marotta went about things this month — which was probably a frustration from how things ended in the summer (i.e. Nicklas Bendtner). A few examples of things are as follows:

"Pathetic."

"Depressing."

"Worthless."

"Uninspiring."

You pick the not-so-nice word directed towards Marotta and it was probably said at some point in time on Thursday afternoon or evenings. And it's kinda understandable. Juventini want the best for their team and no moves in the transfer window don't necessarily inspire those continuously wanting more.

But the thing that gets me is suddenly expecting a swoop when Juventus have done virtually nothing outside of signing Federico Peluso, José Cevallos, and Nicolas Anelka. The January transfer window is notorious for selling clubs jacking up the price on potential buyers because there isn't that much out there compared to the summer. There's not only less time to negotiate moves, but also less time for clubs to find replacements for the players they do sell.

Obviously Juve weren't going to be selling off pieces this month. There weren't any noticeable or unexpected exits during the January window. But during a month where Juventus' flaws — sup, strikers who struggle to finish in front of goal — were starting to be exposed, nothing was ultimately done to try and correct them. Surely Marotta and his team of talent evaluators tried to make something happened, but nobody other than a 33-year-old who was in China a few months ago was brought in.

Yes, there is reason to be upset about the lack of activity. I know it's frustrating to see other clubs finalize moves on deadline day while Juve doesn't secure anybody's services. It's not easy to watch Milan shell out €20-plus million on a striker that could end up being a complete game-changer not only in the future, but also right off the bat.

Maybe, just maybe, there wasn't the right deal out there. It's not like Juve have thrown millions upon millions of dollars at players in January during Marotta's time as director general to begin with.

Oh well. At least Fernando Llorente will be here in the summer, right? So we have that going for us, which is nice.