Top 10 Juventus signings of the decade

Juventus FC is a true powerhouse of Italian and European football with umpteen number of titles and having fielded some of the all-time greats of the game.

Likes of Zinedine Zidane, Michel Platini, Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved, Roberto Baggio, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Vialli and many other legends have played for Juventus at the peak of their careers.

The secret to Juventus’s winning formula is their shrewd transfer activities. Juve are known to pull off sensational transfers at bargain prices. Juventus have been labelled as the ‘Masters of Free Signings” as they have made a habit of luring players who are in last year of their contracts.

Despite facing ‘Match-Fixing’ scandal in the late 2000s, Juventus have bounced back to enjoy an incredible last decade (2010-2019). The Old Lady have won 8 back-to-back Serie A titles as well as 4 Copa Italia and 4 Supercoppa titles.

This sustained success for Juventus is largely down to their smart transfer signings. Today we are looking at the Top 10 Juventus signings of the decade (2010-19).

10. Rodrigo Bentancur (€12.5million)

Juventus v Lokomotiv Moskva: Group D - UEFA Champions League

Juventus signed Rodrigo Bentancur from Boca Juniors for €12.5million ahead of the 2017-18 season.

At the time, Bentancur was deemed surplus to requirement as Juventus already had the likes of Blaise Matuidi, Miralem Pjanic, Emre Can, and Sami Khedira in midfield position. However, the Uruguayan midfielder has quietly cemented his place in the playing XI. Bentancur enjoyed a stellar 2018-19 season featuring in 31 of the 38 Serie A matches.

When Maurizio Sarri was announced as the new Juventus manager last summer many doubted whether Bentancur would continue to get regular game time.

Those questions have been put firmly to bed as The Uruguyan has featured in 13 league games this season and even has 4 assists to his name. The Juventus faithful can expect great things from Rodrigo Bentancur in the future as he is still just 22-years-old and still getting better at his game.

9. Carlos Tevez (€9million)

Carlos Tevez’s move from Manchester City to Juventus at the start of 2013-14 would go down as one of the most underrated transfers of the decade.

Tevez was still scoring freely in the Premier League but needed a fresh challenge and Juventus convinced him to play in Serie A.

Tevez was handed the iconic #10 jersey which was previously worn by the club legend Alessandro del Piero and Tevez lived up to the expectations.

The Argentine scored 49 goals in 94 appearances for Juventus and went on to win 4 major honours (2 Serie A, 1 Copa Italia, 1 Supercoppa). All of this came for a mere €9million transfer fee - A real modern-day bargain signing!

8. Sami Khedira (Free Transfer)

This is the first and certainly not the last ‘free transfer’ deal in our list of Top 10 Juventus signings this decade. Sami Khedira was at the peak of his powers having just won the World Cup 2014 and playing regular football for Real Madrid.

However, the German ace was seeking a move away from Santiago Bernabeu and Juventus convinced the combative midfielder to ply his trade in Serie A.

The things about free transfer is that there are a number of teams lining up to sign a quality player without having to pay the big bucks. It is more difficult to sign a player on a free transfer than to pay a hefty sum and beat the competition.

It takes a great amount of convincing power to assure a quality player that he is making the right move by signing on the dotted lines. Khedira has been one of many free transfers Juventus have managed to pull off and leave other clubs gasping for air.

7. Arturo Vidal (€12.5million)

It was the 2011-12 season when Juventus really began to build a ‘midfield Mafia’ in Turin and Arturo Vidal was the first to join hands. The enigmatic Chilean midfielder was signed from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for a reported transfer fee of €12.5million.

Needless to say, there were a number of other clubs chasing after Vidal’s signature but Juventus won the race and were greatly rewarded later on.

Vidal went on to establish a great partnership with Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba at the heart of Juventus’ midfield. During his time, Vidal led Juventus to 7 major titles, including 4 back-to-back Serie A Championships.

Vidal played 162 times for Juventus, scoring 46 times. After spending 4 splendid seasons with Juventus, Arturo Vidal was sold to Bayern Munich for a reported transfer fee of €37.5million – A profit for €25million for Juventus.

6. Andrea Pirlo (Free Transfer)

Juventus v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Final

If Arturo Vidal was the muscle in Juventus’ midfield at the start of this decade then Andrea Pirlo was indeed the brain. Juventus had signed the artful technician on a free transfer from their long-time rivals AC Milan at the start of 2011-12 season.

Pirlo’s move to Turin raised plenty of eyebrows as the Italian ace was in his prime but refused to renew his AC Milan contract despite spending 10 years at San Siro.

Mind you, Pirlo had just won the Serie A title in 2010-11 season and Juventus had finished 7th , 24 points behind AC Milan. It was a very bold move on Pirlo’s part which he had no regrets later on.

Pirlo teamed up with Antonio Conte and led Juventus to 4 back-to-back Serie A titles. Pirlo’s 4 years in Turin were a pleasure to watch for the fans as he really dictated the play sitting deep every time he was on the pitch.

Following his time at Juventus, Pirlo then joined New York City FC in the summer of 2015 and played 3 seasons with the MLS side. Pirlo announced his retirement from the professional football on January 1, 2018.

5. Wojciech Szczesny (€14million)

Juventus v Bayer Leverkusen: Group D - UEFA Champions League

In a day and age where teams are spending massive sums to sign a quality goalkeeper, Juventus pulled off another steal to sign Wojciech Szczesny from Arsenal for a reported transfer fee of €14million at the start of 2017-18 season.

Juventus needed to fix their goal-keeping position as Gianluigi Buffon was not at his best and was pondering a move away from the club. Szczesny was signed and was gradually integrated in the team as the #1 goalkeeper.

Buffon for his part played the mentor’s role beautifully and enabled Szczesny to take on the mantle as the new No.1 for the Old Lady.

We have seen in the recent past how goalkeepers like Alisson (€62m), Kepa (€80m), Thiabut Courtois (€35m) have gone for huge money but Juventus were once again able to strategically recruit and successfully negotiate a key transfer deal.

Szczesny, 29 is guaranteed to play for Juventus for another 3-4 seasons and even though Buffon is back to his old club, he will only be called upon when Szczesny needs a break.

4. Paulo Dybala (€40million)

Back in the 2015-16 season, a young Argentine was making rapid rise in the Serie A. Understandably, clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich were hovering around Paulo Dybala as he seemed certain to quit Palermo at the time.

However, Juventus swooped in at the last minute and convinced Dybala to continue playing in the Serie A and signed him for a reported transfer fee of €40million.

Since then, Dybala has been an integral part of Juve’s setup. Dybala can play in the attacking midfield role, can operate beautifully as the second striker as well as in the #10 position which makes him a constant goal threat for the oppositions.

Dybala has scored 86 times in 201 appearances for The Old Lady and has guided the club to 8 major titles during his time, including 4 Serie A triumphs.

Earlier in the season, Dybala found it hard to adapt to Maurizio Sarri’s tactics and there were talks of him leaving the club and join Manchester United. However, Sarri and Dybala sorted things out and since then, Juventus have won a lot of games thanks to Dybala’s goals.

Dybala has 9 goals from 23 appearances this season and has struck a formidable partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo upfront. Dybala, 26 may not end up retiring at Juventus but whenever he will leave, he would indeed cost way more than the €40million which Juventus paid for him back in 2016.

3. Matthijs de Ligt (€85million)

Many of you might be surprised to see Matthijs de Ligt appear so high in the list as he was only signed at the start of this season, and that too for a hefty price of €85million.

The reason we have de Ligt at #3 in the Top 10 Juventus signings of this decade is because of the competition Juventus had to fend off in order to sign the Dutchman.

Manchester United, Barcelona, PSG, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich were all lining up to sign de Ligt and had agreed to pay the same transfer fee as Juventus had. It was all about convincing a young starlet like de Ligt to choose their club ahead of others and Juventus came out triumphant.

The transfer fee involved in this signing was another statement of intent from Juventus that they are no longer only about doing shrewd transfers or bring players for free but they are now ready to match pound-per-pound with the big spenders of European football.

De Ligt is certain to lead Juventus’ defence for many seasons to come and the day he decides to quit Turin, there will be a long queue to sign the former Ajax man and Juventus would most certainly recoup a large chunk of the €85million they had spent signing him.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (€117million)

Talk about spending big, Juventus broke all sorts of record trying to sign Cristiano Ronaldo last season and ended up spending €117million to bring the Portuguese superstar to Serie A.

Cristiano had won it all with Real Madrid, including his fifth Ballon d'Or title and was seeking a new challenge. Many had not even fathomed the idea of Ronaldo ever leaving Real Madrid but Juventus made that happen.

The Serie A champions convinced Cristiano to join them at the age of 33 and went all in to ensure Ronaldo wore the #7 jersey in black of white of Juventus.

Ronaldo repaid their faith by scoring 31 times in 44 appearances last season, winning another Serie A title and more importantly, letting every team know about how serious Juventus are about winning a European trophy.

Besides the footballing matters, signing Ronaldo put Juventus on the world podium. Cristiano’s arrival allowed the Bianconeri to bring an international thinking to their approach and by all means, become a global club.

Juventus may not sell Cristiano for a large sum if he decides to quit in next 1-2 seasons but signing Ronaldo was the biggest statement of intent shown by Juventus last decade in terms of transfer activities.

1. Paul Pogba (Free Transfer)

Mino Raiola may be a hard man to deal with but Juventus over the years owe a great deal to Raiola for concluding some of the most improbable transfer signings.

Back at the start of 2012-13 season when Manchester United had signed Robin Van Persie and the entire attention was at Old Trafford, Juventus managed to sign Paul Pogba on a free transfer after then French youngster refused to renew his Man United contract.

Sir Alex Ferguson knew the potential Pogba had at the time but even he would have been left stunned to watch the superstar Pogba had become during his 4-year stint with Juventus.

Pogba formed an inseparable midfield trio with Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal to lead Juventus to 4 back to back Serie A titles, 2 Copa Italias, and 2 Super Coppas.

During those 4 years, Pogba was one of the best midfielders in Europe week-in-week-out. His goals, his assists, his flair play, his shooting, his dribbles, his physical play were too much to handle for any team.

Pogba featured in Serie A’s team of the season in every campaign he played in. Pogba scored 28 times in total for Juventus and some of those goals still make for a worthwhile revisit.

However, after 4 successful years in Turin, Manchester United came calling and offered to pay €90million to re-sign Pogba after losing him on a free transfer. Juventus resisted to a degree but then saw the opportunity and cashed-in on Pogba and made a €90million profit on his transfer.

This wraps our list of Top 10 Juventus signings this decade. Do let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

Edited by Sai Teja