Top 5 big money flops in Juventus history

When it comes to listing the most successful football clubs in history, Juventus’s name is sure to feature amongst the very top.

Founded in 1897, the Italian outfit has been an absolute juggernaut in its 123-year history, winning an unprecedented 36 league titles, 13 Coppa Italias, 9 Italian Supercups (the latter two being a record), 2 Champions League titles and 2 Europa League titles, among scores of other accolades.

However, there have been some downs too – most notably the Calciopoli scandal – which saw the club implicated for match fixing, leading to the loss of their 2005 title, a relegation to Serie B and the departure of several key players.

However, Juventus picked up the pieces admirably and were soon back in the first division of Italian football after being declared Serie B champions in 2007.

The past decade is undoubtedly one of Juventus's most successful and has seen 9 successive Serie A titles come their way.

Great success undoubtedly attracts some of the greatest players, with Michel Platini, Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Edgar Davids, Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo and more recently Cristiano Ronaldo all having pulled on the famous black and white stripes at some point in their legendary careers.

However, success in the beautiful game is an unpredictable thing, and it’s safe to say that there have been some players who weren't exactly worth their weight in gold for the Old Lady.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top 5 big money flops in Juventus history.

#5 Jorge Andrade

You can’t have a list of top 5 big money flops in Juventus history without Jorge Andrade’s name featuring on it.

Juventus’ backline, often heralded as the pinnacle of Italian defensive excellence, looked extremely fragile when Andrade was a part of its line-up.

Signed from Spanish outfit Deportivo for a fee of around €10 million in 2007, Andrade – who had quite an alarming injury history - suffered a horrific left kneecap injury during a match against Roma, leading him to miss the entire 2007-08 season.

The Portuguese’s hellish start to life in Italy stretched on to 2008, when he suffered another serious left kneecap injury during pre-season and once again spent the entire season on the sidelines.

Despite his woes, which saw him spend more time on the operating table than on the pitch, Andrade still tried to make his time with the Old Lady work.

But in 2009 Juventus finally decided to cut their losses on the defender and terminated his contract in April of that year.

Andrade left Juventus after making just four league appearances for the Turin outfit, which would turn out to be the last club he played for after an unsuccessful trial with Spanish side Malaga and a proposed trial with Toronto FC which never materialized.

#4 Jorge Martinez

The Uruguayan joined Juventus in 2010 for a fee of around €12 million after a fantastic three year-stint with Serie A counterpart Catania.

He netted 22 goals across 86 appearances, including a career-best nine goals in 25 games in his final season for Catania. But he never did replicate that prolific form for the Old Lady.

Martinez suffered the misfortune of picking up an injury in his very first game, a 1-0 loss to A.S Bari. But he put in an outstanding performance on his return to the starting line-up in a 2-1 win against AC Milan.

He suffered an injury in the 56th minute of the same match, which kept him out for nearly four months.

On his return to the team, now managed by Antonio Conte, the midfielder was told that he wasn’t a part of the new manager’s plans.

He underwent unsuccessful, injury-ravaged loan spells with Cesena, CFR Club and Novara whom he joined permanently in 2016 after making just 14 overall appearances in six years for the Old Lady.

#3 Amauri

Juventus v Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League

The Brazilian was signed from Palermo by then Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri in 2008 for a pricy €22.8 million.

Amauri’s debut season, which saw him net 14 goals in 44 appearances, was fairly good but it all went downhill from there. The striker came under heavy criticism from fans for his return of just six goals in 30 games.

The goal drought continued in 2010 despite a promising start in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, which saw the Brazilian net a brace against Shamrock Rovers.

After spending a lot of time on the bench under new manager Luigi Delneri, Amauri joined Parama on loan until 30 June 2011. It marked a renaissance for the striker, who went on to score 7 goals in 11 appearances.

The striker returned to the Old Lady at the end of the season. After a long transfer saga, he was finally offloaded by manager Antonio Conte to Fiorentina for a fee of €500,000.

#2 Felipe Melo

Juventus were convinced to sign Melo after his phenomenal performance in the 2009 Confederations Cup.

They promptly paid his €25 million release clause to Fiorentina, in a deal which saw Marco Marchionni go the other way.

Despite a promising start, the Brazilian's form soon took a massive dip.

He was so bad throughout the 2009-10 campaign that he picked up the Bidone d’Oro Award in 2009, a satirical prize given to the Serie A’s worst player of the season.

After it became clear that he wasn’t going to be a part of Antonio Conte’s plans, Melo was shipped off to Turkish side Galatasaray. He experienced a resurgence in form and stayed on for four highly successful years.

Now a part of Palmeiras, the Brazilian is enjoying a patch of form that the Juventus faithful wished he’d displayed at the Turin club.

#1 Thierry Henry

Undoubtedly one of the Premier League’s greatest ever players, it’s hard to believe that Henry flopped colossally during his time at Juventus.

Signed from Monaco for a large fee of £10.5 million in 1999, Henry arrived in Turin with a sterling reputation. He was the 1996 French Young Footballer of the Year award and had the distinction of being France’s top scorer in the 1998 World Cup which his country went on to win.

However, in less than six months Henry went from world champion and promising hotshot to one of football’s most inconsistent wingers.

Having failed to convince Juventus manager Carlo Ancelotti of his talents, Henry was shipped off just six months into his Juventus stint to Premier League side Arsenal, reuniting him with his Monaco manager/mentor Arsene Wenger.

Familiar with his potential, Wenger converted Henry from a winger into a striker and the rest, as they say, is history.

Edited by Sankalp Srivastava