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Like a lot of stuff surrounding Juventus these days, things just seem a little more uncertain than they did about 10 days ago. That's because Antonio Conte was still manager. And even with transfer rumors seemingly dominating the discussion, there seemed to be sense of "everything's going to be okay" simply because Antonio was around.
That included Arturo Vidal's future.
But now with Max Allegri replacing Conte in light of the latter's resignation from the club on July 15, all those rumors of certain players leaving have gained a whole lot of steam. That meant the Vidal-to-Manchester United bus started driving faster than Sandra Bullock in Speed. The English press went nuts, essentially handing Vidal over to United within an hour of Conte leaving.
Thursday brought word from Vidal. It wasn't long, it wasn't some kind of exposé that meant having a sit-down interview for hours on end with King Arturo. But he spoke, and we listened (or read).
"The future? "I'm still on vacation, we'll see starting from tomorrow. Allegri? I haven't heard from him or from my teammates yet. I don't know yet if I'll stay, I have to speak with Allegri first, but I'm happy here."
(Source: Gianluca Di Marzio)
Here is the key point of what Vidal said:
Vidal, vai a Manchester? "No, no...". Ma resti alla Juve? "Non so, lunedì parlerp con il mister...".
— mirkograziano (@mirkogazzetta) July 24, 2014
In short, we have two questions and two answers.
- Is he going to Manchester? "No, no."
- Has he spoken to Allegri yet? "No, on Monday I will speak with the coach."
We can try and read into what the true meaning of what Vidal said is, breaking down that maybe it doesn't have the same tone as it does when he decided to sign a contract extension back in December. That's fine, but there's also this: Juventus are in a little different situation than when he put his name on the dotted line seven months ago. They're basically the same team on the field, sure, but not having Conte as his manager is something Vidal hasn't experienced during his time as a Juventus player.
But if Arturo Vidal says he's happy at Juventus, then I believe him. Beppe Marotta has said as recently as Allegri's introductory press conference that Vidal isn't for sale. And well, now is the time for Beppe to prove they're more than just words. Yep, time to show it's the truth and nothing but the truth.
