:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36613318/453252726.0.jpg)
The day Carlos Tévez arrived in Turin after agreeing to a move to Juventus last summer, expectations were pinned to his back. Major, major expectations — and rightfully so. He became the first player to wear Juventus' famous No. 10 shirt in a post-Alessandro Del Piero world. No matter what his actually transfer fee was, the hopes and aspirations for the upcoming season were attached to his back like he was an 18-wheeler hauling products across the country.
Juventus had been searching for that 'top player' in their attack, and when Tévez arrived last summer, he was it. He wasn't the big-money purchase many thought Juventus might go forward with, but he was just as valuable as one. He was the 'top player' at a bargain of a price, if you want to put it that way.
What did Tévez produce? Let us watch and relive the awesomeness that was Carlitos' first season in bianconero.
Money well spent, I say. Thanks, Man City!
Tévez was Juventus' most consistent and dangerous player last season. And because of it, Tévez was named Juventus' player of the season because duh, of course he was. All of those lovely goals, assists and tackles on the defensive side of the ball we saw week in and week out were just Tévez being the kind of player he was before Roberto Mancini did Roberto Mancini things at Manchester City.
Throwback BWRAO
There are a lot of reasons why Tévez was the perfect fit for Antonio Conte's Juventus last season. He works his complete tail off while he's on the field. He scores wonderful goals. He helps teammates score wonderful goals. He is the kind of striker that was built for a squad that is managed by Mister Conte — a player that runs as much as anybody, gives as much effort as anybody, and also leads the team in scoring at the same time. He's a bulldog, plan and simple.
The one problem about current-day Juventus — they are now managed by Max Allegri. That doesn't mean Tévez will suddenly get sucked into a black hole of awful, awful things and never come back again. It's just the fact that we don't know what kind of tactics Allegri will go with once the season begins. Will Tévez be playing in the same sort of 3-5-2 formation that Conte utilized? Will he be out wide in a 4-3-3? Maybe a 4-3-1-2 is in Juve's future?
Right now, despite Allegri going with the 3-5-2 in Juve's scoreless draw against Cesena, we're still not totally sure on what kind of direction Juve's new manager will go when the games actually count for something in the standings. Allegri might be experimenting with formations right now just to see how things look, he might be going with a three-man defense because that's what he wants to do.
Either way, no matter what formation Allegri does end up using most of the time this season, Tévez will be looked up to do exactly what he did last season. And that's be Carlos Tévez, man who scores lots of goals and does other awesome things. Sounds good, doesn't it?
CARLOS TÉVEZ 2014-15 PROJECTION (SERIE A ONLY)
Games: 34
Starts: 31
Goals: 15
Assists: 9
Grinta shown: Off the freaking charts.
