Juventus manager Max Allegri has produced some of the most uninspiring, cowardly football Juventini have seen from the Italian giants over the years. Everyone knew Juve would be in for a bit of a transition after years of poor decisions on the transfer market, prioritizing “name” veterans over players who could help the team for the decade to come. However, it seems like Juventus have taken a step backward since returning to Allegri, who replaced Andrea Pirlo after the club’s first season without a Scudetto.
Allegri is on the hot seat, regardless of how expensive it would be to fire him. The latest embarrassment, a 4-1 loss to Empoli, has caused more uncertainty regarding the Italian manager’s future, even though the board had seemingly backed him throughout the 2022/23 season.
If Juventus decide to fire Max Allegri amidst rumors of star players leaving due to his defensive style, here are five possible managerial replacements for the Bianconeri.
Igor Tudor
Marseille’s Igor Tudor briefly led his side to challenge the all-mighty PSG for the Ligue 1 title. While OM never really had a chance, Tudor has done a solid job with this club despite facing incredible amounts of pressure and criticism. Marseille honestly shouldn’t be as high as they are in the table – third – when you look at their serious holes in the squad, but Tudor has done well to make sure Les Phocéens are in a position to stay in the Champions League.
Before joining Marseille, Tudor was one of the most reputable coaches in Serie A. He did great things for Hellas Verona in 2021/22, and it is no coincidence that the Gialloblù have struggled mightily in 2022/23 without him (and the likes of Federico Dimarco and Giovanni Simeone).
Tudor is a former Juventus player who understands what it means to be successful in Turin. However, he doesn’t quite have the track record of success at the highest level – not counting this current season with Marseille.
Vincenzo Italiano
Vincenzo Italiano is now getting a look from Tottenham, so Juventus isn’t the only big fish (shoutout to Fabri Fibra’s producer) who could potentially be in on the Fiorentina manager.
Another highly respected manager in Italian football, Italiano has done some great things for the Viola this season despite their place in the bottom half of the Serie A table. Italiano pushed Inter Milan to the limit in the Coppa Italia Final and has sent his side to the final of the Conference League against West Ham United.
You can only imagine what Italiano and Fiorentina would be capable of if they actually had competent strikers instead of Luka Jović and Arthur Cabral. His defensive structure, rotations, and ability to create chances in a variety of situations show that Italiano has the key principles down.
Before Fiorentina, he was a sensation for Spezia, bringing them up to Serie A in just his first season in charge and then keeping them up there before moving on to Firenze. His work at Spezia alone is reason to think about taking a gamble on him.
Zinédine Zidane
Clearly, the dream option is Zinédine Zidane. The man won three straight Champions League titles with Real Madrid. And then in his second stint with the club, he saved them from the doldrums by immediately winning the league title and then getting them to the semifinals of the Champions League in a season in which they had no business competing at that level.
Zidane can either elevate an elite club in a mediocre period or get an elite club to achieve their best period when they have the right players in place. And Zizou has to get a lot of credit for setting the foundations of the Real Madrid side that won the Champions League title in 2021/22 under Carlo Ancelotti.
Does Zidane want to coach Juventus? Nobody knows what he wants, but with France remaining committed to Didier Deschamps and the haphazard PSG project being his other main suitor, the Bianconeri look plenty attractive. Zizou is a former Real Madrid legend as a player who then managed the team to glory. He wants to do the same for France, so shouldn’t he also want to do the same for Juve? After all, he played for Juve first before Madrid.
Thiago Motta
Thiago Motta is one of the most underappreciated midfielders of his time, perhaps because his very best seasons were with that aforementioned PSG side at a time in which people especially did not pay attention to the French top flight.
The same qualities that made Motta one of the most composed and intelligent midfield players of the 2010s have made him one of the most intriguing up-and-coming managers in the modern game, even if he gets less attention than contemporary Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen.
A former Inter Milan player, Motta managed Spezia in 2021/22 and kept them up, so the Speiza track remains strong here. Now, he is successfully managing Bologna, turning the Rossoblù’s fortunes around after an awful start to the season. Motta has his team playing, at times, beautiful and free-flowing attacking football without sacrificing on defense. He may be the highest-upside option of these five, excluding serial Champions League winner Zidane.
Raffaele Palladino
Finally, the last successful Serie A manager to watch for Juventus is Monza’s Raffaele Palladino. We knew that with the investment Silvio Berlusconi put into this side, Monza would very likely stay up in their first season in Serie A. But I doubt many people could have expected them to be this good with the squad they have.
Palladino has found the perfect formula for Monza, and they could even finish the 2022/23 Serie A campaign in the top half of the table. He has his team playing solid defense, controlling matches against opponents when they can, and making the most of counterattacking opportunities with the likes of breakout star Carlos Augusto, who is also on the Juventus radar as a left-sided progressor this summer.
While Palladino may need to prove himself, he honestly already has shown his quality as Monza manager in this season of Serie A football. He is not yet 40 years old himself and will likely be one of the hottest managerial names by this time next year, assuming Juve don’t aggressively try to snap him up this summer to replace Max Allegri.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.