Juventus are close to reappointing former manager Massimiliano Allegri ahead of next season. According to Fabrizio Romano, via social media, the Turin club will part company with Andrea Pirlo in the coming hours, and have already reached an agreement with Allegri over his return.
Pirlo has only been in charge at Juventus for a year, but The Old Lady have struggled badly this season and were reliant on final day favours from other Serie A sides to secure them a place in the Champions League.
Juventus to Announce Massimiliano Allegri Return
Italian Giants Have Regressed Since Allegri Departed in 2019
Allegri was hugely successful throughout his first spell as Juventus manager. The 53-year-old led his side to five successive Serie A titles from 2015-2019, and also won a further six domestic cups in his time in Turin.
However, the club’s board craved European success and decided keeping faith with Allegri would prevent them from winning the Champions League on the basis that the former AC Milan boss was twice a losing finalist with the club.
As such, Allegri was replaced by Maurizio Sarri – who had won the Europa League at the end of his one-year spell at Chelsea – in 2019, and has surprisingly remained out of work since.
Worryingly for the Juventus hierarchy, the club has regressed both domestically and in Europe since Allegri’s departure, and the dismissal of their former manager is now seen as a mistake that they are trying to rectify in facilitating his return.
Allegri Charged With Overhauling Inter Milan
Under former Juventus manager Antonio Conte, Inter Milan have successfully ended Juventus’ nine-year stranglehold of the Serie A crown. With Conte since having departed from the Milan club at the end of the season, Juve have been presented with a golden opportunity to win back domestic supremacy.
Achieving that will be the first order of business for Massimiliano Allegri upon his return to Turin. This season, Andrea Pirlo was only able to lead the club to a fourth-place finish, behind both of the Milan clubs as well as Atalanta.
Additionally, Juventus were dumped out of this season’s Champions League by underdogs Porto. Under Maurizio Sarri last season, Ligue 1 side Lyon triumphed over the Serie A giants. If Allegri can return Juventus to domestic and European heights during his second spell, his return to the club will erase the mistake they made in letting him go in the first place.
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