Juventus Pursues a True No 9: Sorloth or Zirkzee?

Juventus’ hunt for a true No 9 has kicked back into overdrive.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the club are trawling the market again for a centre-forward after Luciano Spalletti walked away from the win over Frosinone more irritated than relieved. The points were banked. The chances were not. Too many slipped by, and with the window closing, patience has run out.

Spalletti turns the spotlight on Kolo Muani

Randal Kolo Muani felt the full force of that frustration.

Signed for a hefty fee and entrusted with the keys to Juventus’ attack, the Frenchman squandered a string of clear openings in the narrow victory, stalling the team’s momentum and exposing a familiar problem in the final third.

Spalletti didn’t sugar-coat it. He delivered a stark reminder in public of why the forward’s career has stalled recently.

“Randal also needs to realise that if he hasn't been playing for two years, there's a reason why,” the coach said, throwing down a very clear challenge to the former Paris Saint-Germain striker and demanding a far higher standard.

Those words cut to the heart of Juventus’ dilemma. The Bianconeri have already wrestled with misfires in the role, struggling to fully convince with targets like Lois Openda and Jonathan David in previous windows. The sense of déjà vu is impossible to ignore.

Sorloth at the top of the list

This time, Spalletti wants a different profile: size, presence, penalty-box aggression.

His preferred solution is Alexander Sorloth. The Atletico Madrid striker has hit 20 or more goals in each of his last three seasons, and his game fits the mould of the old-school No 9 Spalletti craves – a reference point, a finisher, a bully in the area.

Juventus have stepped up work at Continassa to see if they can tempt Atletico into a swap built around Nico Gonzalez. The winger is open to the move to Madrid, giving the deal a realistic framework if the numbers can be made to work.

The appeal is obvious: Sorloth offers exactly the kind of physical dominance that has been missing, the sort of striker who turns half-chances into goals and relieves the creative burden on the rest of the front line.

Zirkzee the alternative route

If Sorloth proves unreachable, there is a different path.

Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee remains on the table as a late-window option. He is not a like-for-like alternative. The Dutchman brings a far more creative, roaming profile, dropping off the line, linking play, and operating between the lines rather than simply living between the posts.

For Spalletti, that contrast matters. Sorloth is a pure box presence. Zirkzee would reshape the attack in another way, potentially adding fluency but not necessarily the raw penalty-area punch he has been asking for.

Decision time in Turin

The clock is ticking. Juventus cannot afford to drift into the heart of the season still unsure about the most important role on the pitch.

Inside the club, landing a proven goalscorer is viewed as the final structural piece – the difference between controlling matches and actually killing them off when defences sit deep and refuse to budge.

Sorloth or Zirkzee. Power or guile. Traditional No 9 or modern hybrid.

Spalletti has made his demands crystal clear. Now it’s up to Juventus’ new leadership to decide what kind of attack they want this team to be built around when the serious tests arrive.