The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 107: Pogba and Di Maria in, so is Zaniolo next?

As the deals for Paul Pogba and Ángel Di Maria essentially closed around the end of June, it was this first week of July in which each of the big-name free-agent signings were expected in Turin to go through the final steps and make things officially official.

There were no surprises there.

Pogba’s here. Di Maria’s here. Matthijs de Ligt, for now, is still here, too.

Who’s next? Well, that’s still TBD at this point, but it appears as though Juventus is already thinking of ways to reinvest the money they get from a potential de Ligt sale — although, they still have to see that go through, of course — and that is led by the rumors of Nicolo Zaniolo potentially seeing a boyhood dream come true and join the Bianconeri.

There’s a lot going on in Juventus’ world these days. And it could very well be connected to two very different yet related things:

1. The team is beginning preseason training and isn’t so far away from its three-game tour of the United States later this month.
2. The front office is still very much working to complete transfer dealings as the middle of July approaches, with two very high-profile deals — one player leaving and one player arriving — very much on the table right now.

All in all, if your head is spinning a little bit while trying to keep track of everything, you’re not alone. Good thing that Juve’s got their first two summer signings out of the way.

On this week’s episode of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, we discuss:

• An important blog announcement regarding Juventus’ first friendly in the United States against Chivas Guadalajara. (Hint: we’re gonna be there and it’s gonna be fun.)
• Over to Juventus news: Ángel Di Maria has officially signed with the Bianconeri.
• More Juventus news: Paul Pogba has officially signed with the Bianconeri on a free transfer for the second time in his career. #PogBack x 2.
• Now that they are both official and we can talk about them as actual deals, what does Pogba’s return and the addition of Di Maria mean to this Juventus squad still very much in construction.
• Thoughts on Juventus’ reported interest in Napoli center back Kalidou Kolibaly, who looks less likely to move to Turin this summer due to a handful of factors.
• Thoughts on Juventus’ increasing interest in Roma attacker Nicolo Zaniolo, who comes with a lot of red flags despite his obvious talent.
• Twitter questions — including a Roma-leaning friend of the blog asking about hamburgers, how much leadership will Di Maria and Pogba add to a squad in need of some leaders, andif the Di Maria signing is hurting long-term building or just a frustrating thing in the moment because Juventus seemed to be wanting to go younger and less expensive salary-wise.

You can listen to Episode 107 of The Old Lady Speaks Podcast here:

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