Juventus Season Kickoff: Spalletti's Demands for Vicario and Kolo Muani
Luciano Spalletti has drawn a clear line in the sand. The holidays are over. The experiments are done. On Sunday evening in Frosinone, the Juventus season starts for real – and for two new faces, it starts under the spotlight.
At the Stadio Stirpe, with kick-off at 17.30 UK time (18.30 CEST), Guglielmo Vicario and Randal Kolo Muani will both walk straight into the XI. No teasing, no mystery. Spalletti spelled it out.
“Vicario and Kolo Muani will start,” he told reporters on the eve of the match. From there, he added, the work is to “create a team that has balance, which gives individual players more freedom to express themselves within that framework.”
Spalletti rings the bell
The Juventus coach arrived in front of the microphones with a message that sounded less like a gentle reminder and more like a warning shot.
“The bell has rung, the season has started, and whoever isn't ready will feel themselves getting pushed towards the exit,” he said. “Teams are always evolving, so players must be prepared to go with that flow.”
He still found time to tip his hat to the opponents and an old friend.
“I want to congratulate Frosinone on returning to Serie A and my friend Massimiliano Alvini for the work he did to achieve promotion.”
Spalletti talked about having gone to watch several Serie B coaches at work to “keep myself up to date.” The subtext was obvious: if he expects his players to evolve, he is holding himself to the same standard.
A squad under renovation
Juventus come into the new campaign after a bruising finish to last season. They were in the Champions League race before a late collapse left them sixth, and with it a Europa League ticket instead of a place at Europe’s top table.
The response has been a summer of reconstruction that is still not entirely finished.
Kerim Alajbegovic, Jhon Lucumi, Jeff Ekhator and Zeki Celik have all arrived, joining emerging leader Kenan Yildiz in a squad that Spalletti insists is changing in both character and quality.
“The squad right now is cohesive, united, but in future I'd like us to also be solid, robust, determined,” he explained. “In general we've had a good transfer market, some areas need a few cosmetic changes, others entire restoration projects.”
Alajbegovic, in particular, drew praise.
“We brought in a player like Alajbegovic who provides that sudden shock of energy, he sees the next move and can see it through. We've certainly made it more competitive all over the team.”
This is not a coach talking about a gentle tune-up. It sounds more like a renovation site, with some rooms repainted and others stripped back to the bricks.
Top-four race wide open
The table has not yet been written, but Spalletti knows exactly what Juventus are walking into: a crowded, unforgiving race for the top four.
“There are seven or eight teams who can challenge for the top four, and last season we missed out,” he reminded everyone. “We've got to prove ourselves and become a balanced team. We have improved, but only the results will show us how much we've improved.”
Outside expectations already swirl around his side.
“Right now you all seem to think we'll be second or third,” he said, pushing back at the idea that every big name can be squeezed into the line-up. “It's the usual game when you try to guess the line-up, they can't all be in the starting XI.”
He name-checked the rivals as well, underlining how fierce the fight will be.
“We had a good transfer strategy and are in a position to do more, while Milan made good investments, Inter and Napoli were already strong, Roma signed important players. They are all up there and have the same ambition, we all want to win many games.”
No hiding place, no soft landings. Juventus must earn their way back in.
Vicario in, Di Gregorio out, Perin in limbo
The goalkeeping situation, often a slow-burn subplot at big clubs, has moved quickly in Turin.
Michele Di Gregorio is heading to Bournemouth on loan with an option to buy set at €14m, while Mattia Perin is preparing for a move to Palermo in Serie B. That leaves the stage clear for Vicario.
“We got Vicario because we consider him strong and experienced, good with his feet, and has just started training over the last week with the team. He will play,” Spalletti confirmed.
Perin, he added, remains in the picture – for now.
“Perin will remain as long as he can be useful, while Di Gregorio is almost official now, so he's not even in the squad.”
The message is blunt: the hierarchy is shifting, and it is shifting fast.
Movement against movement
Tactically, Spalletti framed the season not as a clash of formations, but as something more fluid.
“It is not system against system, but movement against movement, understanding where to create that space,” he said.
That line fits perfectly with the players he has chosen to trust from day one. Kolo Muani, with his vertical runs and ability to attack space, and Vicario, comfortable building from the back, are tools for a coach who wants a side that thinks and moves as one.
Juventus arrive in Frosinone as a work in progress, but also as a team that has been told, in no uncertain terms, that the time for excuses has gone. The bell has rung. Who answers it now will define their season.
