:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45613994/461081610.0.jpg)
As Juventus entered the final couple days of the transfer window, I don't know if I even had expectations for much of anything to really happen. Maybe it was the fact that they hadn't really done a thing of any kind of note for the first three and a half weeks of January. Maybe it was the fact that the moves Juventus were rumored to be making were seemingly foregone conclusions and just needed
Transfer deadline day came and went. Juventus made moves — nothing major, nothing that will suddenly make them leaps and bounds better than they were a month or two ago. Sorry to disappoint. It's not like Juventus were going to suddenly pull a rabbit out of their hat and unveil some huge splash on the market.
I guess we'll have to wait until the summer where all we get to talk about another round or two of transfer rumors. Then again, we just spent the last month doing that, so we should be used to it by now.
Anyway...
Who's out?
Sebastian Giovinco is the biggest name to either depart or arrive this window. When he first agreed to terms with Toronto FC, pretty much everybody assumed the Atomic Ant would head over to Major League Soccer when his contract with Juventus was over in June. But as the days went on, the rumors and talk of Giovinco going to TFC early picked up steam, and the two sides ended their two-decade long relationship on Monday with what looks like a mutual parting of ways. Now Giovinco is free to head off to Canada and the wonderful winter weather that comes along with it.
Federico Mattiello out to Chievo on loan. I really have no idea how much playing time he will get because Chievo is going to try their damnedest to not get relegated in the next four months. Having seen them play Juventus recently, there's obviously going to be first-hand knowledge that there's the need for an influx of new talent on that roster. But is Chievo manager Rolando Maran going to hand over a decent amount of playing time to a teenager with his club's Serie A status bound to be on the line? I don't know.
Who's in?
Alessandro Matri. Stefano Sturaro. That's it. Nothing more, Nothing less. And it's not like some name suddenly popped up and provided Juventus with a much-needed boost to the squad.
Neither Matri nor Sturaro are expected to play a ton of minutes in the final four months of the 2014-15 season. Matri will likely fill Giovinco's shoes — insert one last short joke here — as Juve's No. 4 or 5 striker behind Carlos Tévez, Fernando Llorente and Álvaro Morata. Sturaro, who definitely got the big-time spotlight from the Juventus press office upon his arrival, is in the same kind of boat, maybe more the case with so many talented players in front of him. I am interested to see how Max Allegri uses Sturaro going forward the rest of the season, especially if Juve continue to play on three fronts entering March or April.
What's the final verdict?
Juventus weren't expected to do anything major, and that's the way it turned out, so it's hard to get upset about nothing big happening when nothing but minor-ish moves went down. Outside of Daniele Rugani being bought from Empoli in full, not much money was thrown around — and even then the second half of the young defender's contract was just €3.5 million. Even then, the Rugani move was a relatively unsurprising move considering how many folks feel about him and what kind of future he can have at Juventus if given a legitimate opportunity.
Now, of course, if this is to be looked at as something like first seeing the names Juve were linked to at the start of January and then comparing them to the players they ended up with when the window closed on the second day of February, then it's disappointing. But, as we know, how truly interested Juventus were in some of those names is pure conjecture at this point. We do know Juventus wanted to sign a trequartista during the winter transfer window, and that idea pretty much fizzled when the deal for Wesley Sneijder fell apart. There were other names, but clearly not the kind of deal that Beppe Marotta and Co. were looking for.
