Allegri: When you make a decision, you have to be sure

Juventus face a difficult trip this weekend away at Fiorentina playing in the early Saturday fixture. The Viola are coming off a scoreless draw against Napoli before losing away at Udinese in midweek while Juventus got back to winning ways beating Spezia.

Speaking ahead of the game, coach Massimiliano Allegri gave a squad update.

“Fiorentina-Juve is always difficult, we need to take it one game at a time, the important thing will be to get a result.

“I have yet to decide the starting XI. Maybe you will know it before me. Leonardo Bonucci trained yesterday with the team and I will decide whether to play him tomorrow or against Paris Saint-Germain.

“Leandro Paredes arrived with a lot of enthusiasm, he is an important player who increases the quality level of our midfield with Manuel Locatelli, Nicolò Fagioli and Fabio Miretti. The club’s objective was to keep young players not just to make up the numbers, but because they are ready to play.

“We are waiting for the return of Paul Pogba, while there are players with different characteristics like Adrien Rabiot and Weston McKennie. We have shuffled the pack to ensure we have a good mix of different types of players.”

The transfer window shut last night with Juve moving out two midfielders who had fallen out of favour with Allegri - Arthur left on a loan to Liverpool and Denis Zakaria to Chelsea, with both Premier Leagues having an option for a permanent purchase.

“Zakaria had this possibility, he felt that he didn’t have much space and accepted the opportunity with great enthusiasm. I wish him and Arthur all the best, they are still fine players. We made our choices and they are happy, so we completed the squad as best we could.

“The fact remains, we are still without Pogba and Chiesa for a while, we know there are always unpredictable events that can change things, so it’s difficult to judge now which squad is strongest.”

Did he have any regrets about Paulo Dybala leaving, seeing that he is currently at the top of the table with Roma?

“No, when you make a decision, you have to be sure.”

With the number of high profile transfers that have gone from Fiorentina to Juventus, the Viola fanbase are particularly vitriolic to the Bianconeri; would he Allegri consider benching Dusan Vlahovic so that he was rested for the Champions League game against PSG?

“That’s a good idea, I’ll think about it…”