SPORT NEWS
Juventus spent close to €200 million (£168m/$217m) in the last transfer window as they looked to make major changes in their squad. The club also raised a substantial amount by selling several players and also reduced their wage bill by parting ways with high-earners like Federico Chiesa and Adrien Rabiot.
The most expensive players the Bianconeri signed in the summer transfer windows were Dutch international Teun Koopmeiners and Brazilian midfielder Luiz from Atalanta and Aston Villa respectively. The duo arrived in Turin for €50m (£42m/$54m) each but they are yet to make an impact for the Italian giants. While Koopmeiners has remained sidelined since last month due to a rib injury, Luiz has been disappointing under Thiago Motta and has been heavily criticised by La Gazzetta dello Sport. The Brazilian is described as the ‘big mystery’ of the Juventus team, having struggled to settle and conceded two penalties.
The Brazilian who moved to Italy from the Premier League along with his girlfriend Alisha Lehmann in the summer, has nine matches under his belt across all competitions where he has clocked only 312 minutes on the pitch and has featured in Motta’s starting line-up only twice.
The record Serie A winners are currently sixth in the league, seven points behind leaders Napoli. They will be next seen in action on Saturday against Udinese in a league clash as the club look to end their three-game winless run.