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With the FFO season drawing closer with each day, recent weeks has seen a number of eye catching events in the footballing world, from the transfer bonanza to the NON FFO auction.
This pre season, Juventus went to work on addressing what some would have considered a weak link for the squad: The defence.
First up they brought in Juventus old boy M_Simakan from Arsenal.
Simakan left the club 2 seasons ago for the title winning Paris Saint-Germain before moving onto perennial under achievers Arsenal.
It's said that Juventus have been looking for a way to bring the ball playing defender back to the club ever since he left and late last season a deal was agreed between the two clubs to make that happen.
In exchange for the services of Simakan, Arsenal received defenders S_Botman and M_Branthwaite, the latter was swiftly moved on to Celtic, Dortmund and then back to Celtic on loan.
Up next for Banks and the Old Lady was the upcoming auction, with a squad rotation issue on his hands, the Juventus manager made a bold decision to move Y_Adli out of the club to Celtic for a huge fee of £200,000,000 giving the club a huge warchest for the auction of almost £270,000,000.
It was unclear where Banks would place the clubs bid but in the end it was a defensive player as the club bid for, and signed, 20 year old C_Lukeba for £94,700,000…A fee that some have said is just over half of what the Frenchman is worth.
Banks wasn't happy with this addition though as within a week of signing the player, a deal had been agreed with Bayern Munich to trade him away in exchange for £30,000,000 and 22 year old J_Timber.
Timber once cost Manchester United £250,000,000 at auction so that would value Lukeba at almost £200,000,000 more than the price Juventus paid this pre season.
Juventus' ability to sell high and buy low left the club with cash to burn and their next target was the transfer listed T_Nianzou at Manchester United.
United themselves got a bargain at auction when they signed P_Porro for well under market value and Nianzou was deemed surplus to requirement and was subsequently transfer listed.
Nianzou was once signed at auction by Banks for £110,000,000 and had since hopped around from Bayern Munich to Manchester United but it seemed like a return to Italy could be on the cards.
Banks made contact with United manager Outten, who has a reputation for wanting the most for his own players whilst paying as little as he can for others. This time, Outten added in a new level of difficulty….Stalling.
Juventus had the leading bid on the 22 year old and Outten turned to hoping and praying that 2 other clubs would/could raise the price even further but despite this not happening, the United manager didn't make a decision other than simply to stall for time.
After his hoped had died, Outten then switched to another excuse of trying to use Nianzou or other players in other deals, keeping his options wide open despite Banks offering well over current market value.
Stalling Steve insisted that his valuation of £200,000,000 was bang on the money, despite only a handful of teams having that kind of money but after all other avenues failed, all roads led back to Juventus and Banks.
After blood, sweat and years, the two clubs agreed a deal worth £175,000,000 and the two clubs would move forwards and move forwards Juventus did, swiftly selling J_Sutalo to League rivals Atletico Madrid for £150,000,000 to leave them with a bank balance of £180,000,000 and a new, fresh looking back line.
We've been allowed an exclusive 1 on 1 interview with Juventus head coach Andy Banks:
Interviewer:
First of all, M_Simakan, why did you sell him to Paris Saint-Germain all that time ago? And what previous attempts have you made to bring the defender back to the club?
AB:
We were in a period of development, Simakan was our best defender at the time but a deal with PSG for him came in and we received cash and a promising young talent in Nuno_Mendes.
Simakan was once himself the promising young star in our ranks and we believed that Nuno could be even better one day and we've always been looking for extra funds to improve the club one way or another so it made sense at the time.
As for our attempts to bring him back to the club. When Arsenal came in for him at the end of that season, we also were interested but couldn't raise the funds that PSG wanted and so we missed out but we always kept him on our radar hoping that an opportunity would come up further down the line and now it has. We spent most of last season positioning ourselves to bring him back home and with some good fortune and some good business we made it happen.
Interviewer:
Speaking of bringing him back, you've paid a pretty penny to do that haven't you? S_Botman AND M_Branthwaite go to Arsenal for his services
AB:
We have yes but we feel he's worth every penny. We signed Brantwaite fairly cheaply so for us it's not THAT much of a price to pay.
Knowing the Arsenal manager well, we knew we'd have to pay through the nose if we wanted any of their players as that's how they do business unfortunately but on this occasion we were happy to do so.
Interviewer:
You then sold defensive midfielder Y_Adli to Celtic for a staggering £200,000,000. Why did you make this decision and do you feel you got good value for the Frenchman?
AB:
Yacine has been a bit of a fringe player for us in recent seasons since the arrivals of Gonzalez & Camavinga and we felt like the time was right to move him on. For his own good as much as ours.
We ended up getting a really good price for him when you look around at better players in J_Grealish etc going for much less (£140,000,000) so we were happy at the time and even more so now.
Interviewer:
Onto the auction, you placed the clubs bid on 20 year old defender, C_Lukeba to the tune of £94,700,000.
Talk us through the decision to bid on him and the price you paid and furthermore if you were happy with the price the club paid
AB:
We knew what we wanted coming into the action, either a 5th defender or an upgrade on an existing player in our ranks and when we saw the talent available it was clear that Lukeba was the one for us.
We looked around at the other clubs' finances and made a bold decision to drop our bid to just under £95,000,000 after original projections at the club had us bidding over £120,000,000.
We were delighted to be the only club to bid on him, but on the other hand we could have saved a lot of money but overall, we signed him for much less than his value so we're happy.
Interviewer:
You can't have been THAT happy with him, as within a week you'd agreed a deal to sell him in the new year.
Talk us through the deal you've agreed that will see J_Timber AND a sum of £30,000,000 come in as Lukeba goes to Munich
AB:
We WERE happy with the signing of Lukeba, BUT an opportunity to improve our squad right now came up and we took it.
We could have spent the next 2 seasons developing the lad but we feel like we're past the development stage in our squad and so we got the instant upgrade on Lukeba and some money to sweeten the deal.
Originally Bayern manager Jon Banks wanted US to add the money to the deal but we all know how desperate he is for the youths in an effort to rebuild his squad and reputation as a good manager after numerous poor seasons.
Interviewer:
Another club who were thought to have landed themselves an auction bargain were Manchester United.
They signed defender P_Porro for £175,000,000.
Talk us through your thoughts on this and the auction as a whole
AB:
Well when you look back at previous auctions, United have always paid a high fee for their players so it'll be nice for them to get a bargain.
Porro is some talent and he'll fit in well at United as they have some real talent there.
The obvious talking point from the auction is Manchester City signing J_Bellingham for all that money. We all saw it coming and he'll be worth every penny.
Interviewer:
Manchester United signing Porro led to them transfer listing a number of players, T_Nianzou being one that peaked your interest.
Talk us through the process from initial contact between the clubs and the transfer being confirmed earlier today.
.
AB:
After signing Lukeba cheaply, we had cash to burn and after seeing that Nianzou had been transfer listed we knew that he was a player that could improve us so we reached out to the Manchester United manager, Steve Outten.
We ended up being in a bidding war with 2 other clubs but after we remained the highest bidder at £161,000,000 nothing happened.
Outten clutched at straws as he hoped Southampton would fail at auction in the second round and would come in bid for the defender, or for Atletico Madrid to loosen the purse strings for once and outbid Juventus but after a week of stalling he had no such luck.
At this point United tried a different approach but after more stalling they had exhausted both us, and all other options other than to sell him to us for £175,000,000.
I don't think either of us are happy with the fee. We've paid well over his current market value considering that there's not much money in the game, and United felt he was worth £200,000,000.
Maybe he was 6 weeks ago but a lot has changed and player values go up and down as money comes in and out of the game, this is something that the United manager doesn't seem to understand.
No doubt he'd point it out if he was signing rather than selling…
Interviewer:
Almost as soon as you welcomed Nianzou to the club, J_Sutalo departed the club for Spain as he has been sold to Atletico Madrid for £150,000,000.
Speak to us about how this deal came about and you'd thoughts on the deal.
AB:
When we were impatiently waiting on Stalling Steve over in Manchester to make his decisions, we figured out that Atletico Madrid were a club who were interested in bringing a defender to the club and when we spoke to their manager Simon Marsh, we learned that they'd not be bidding any higher than they already had which was around the 150 mark.
With this we saw the chance to sell one player to Madrid, pay a bit more and sign another from Manchester. However, Steve took so long to decide that we feared that Marsh would move on and find a player elsewhere.
However, Simon had the patience or a Saint and assured us that if we secured a deal with United and needed to move Sutalo on that they'd be there with the funds. For this I'd like to thank the Atletico manager and wish him and his club good luck for the upcoming season.
We feel that we got a fair price for the lad and now after all is said and done we have revamped our back line and have plenty of funds to use in the future so we're delighted.
Interviewer:
What ARE your plans for the future with this cash? You seem to have enough players, you seem to have the best players available to you that fit the mould of the what the club wants. What is next? Perhaps to invest in the youth academy system?
AB:
Absolutely not! I've seen the young lads train and we've been dealt a rough deal so I've taken the decision to pull the plug on the academy. Yes, I know by league rules we must keep it open with a certain number of players in there but with the talent that we've got in there they'll never amount to anything so we won't be investing any more than we have to.
We have the stadium that we will look at developing over time but for now we will sit on the cash and use it as and when we see fit.
We did flirt with the idea of selling D_Kulusevski to Southampton, as they've been looking to sign him all year, and bringing in F_Torres who Celtic were almost giving away yesterday for £85,000,000 thus giving us even more money for future auctions but we decided that Kulusevski is at the minute irreplaceable and will remain a Juventus player.
We don't know where the next improvement in the squad will be but we will be prepared for it whenever that opportunity comes.
Thank you for your questions, that's all I've got time for. I have to get back to game planning for our opening game vs AC Milan. A team who I think have had a very poor transfer window. Failing in the auction twice, desperately signing players from Roma for over inflated prices just to get them in some kind of shape for the season.
We expect a tough game but we should have more than enough quality to control that game if we do the hard work between now and then.
(Player names change often so I may have mixed some up/made up in my head signing T_Nianzou at auction. Either way, this is my story and I'm sticking to it)
This pre season, Juventus went to work on addressing what some would have considered a weak link for the squad: The defence.
First up they brought in Juventus old boy M_Simakan from Arsenal.
Simakan left the club 2 seasons ago for the title winning Paris Saint-Germain before moving onto perennial under achievers Arsenal.
It's said that Juventus have been looking for a way to bring the ball playing defender back to the club ever since he left and late last season a deal was agreed between the two clubs to make that happen.
In exchange for the services of Simakan, Arsenal received defenders S_Botman and M_Branthwaite, the latter was swiftly moved on to Celtic, Dortmund and then back to Celtic on loan.
Up next for Banks and the Old Lady was the upcoming auction, with a squad rotation issue on his hands, the Juventus manager made a bold decision to move Y_Adli out of the club to Celtic for a huge fee of £200,000,000 giving the club a huge warchest for the auction of almost £270,000,000.
It was unclear where Banks would place the clubs bid but in the end it was a defensive player as the club bid for, and signed, 20 year old C_Lukeba for £94,700,000…A fee that some have said is just over half of what the Frenchman is worth.
Banks wasn't happy with this addition though as within a week of signing the player, a deal had been agreed with Bayern Munich to trade him away in exchange for £30,000,000 and 22 year old J_Timber.
Timber once cost Manchester United £250,000,000 at auction so that would value Lukeba at almost £200,000,000 more than the price Juventus paid this pre season.
Juventus' ability to sell high and buy low left the club with cash to burn and their next target was the transfer listed T_Nianzou at Manchester United.
United themselves got a bargain at auction when they signed P_Porro for well under market value and Nianzou was deemed surplus to requirement and was subsequently transfer listed.
Nianzou was once signed at auction by Banks for £110,000,000 and had since hopped around from Bayern Munich to Manchester United but it seemed like a return to Italy could be on the cards.
Banks made contact with United manager Outten, who has a reputation for wanting the most for his own players whilst paying as little as he can for others. This time, Outten added in a new level of difficulty….Stalling.
Juventus had the leading bid on the 22 year old and Outten turned to hoping and praying that 2 other clubs would/could raise the price even further but despite this not happening, the United manager didn't make a decision other than simply to stall for time.
After his hoped had died, Outten then switched to another excuse of trying to use Nianzou or other players in other deals, keeping his options wide open despite Banks offering well over current market value.
Stalling Steve insisted that his valuation of £200,000,000 was bang on the money, despite only a handful of teams having that kind of money but after all other avenues failed, all roads led back to Juventus and Banks.
After blood, sweat and years, the two clubs agreed a deal worth £175,000,000 and the two clubs would move forwards and move forwards Juventus did, swiftly selling J_Sutalo to League rivals Atletico Madrid for £150,000,000 to leave them with a bank balance of £180,000,000 and a new, fresh looking back line.
We've been allowed an exclusive 1 on 1 interview with Juventus head coach Andy Banks:
Interviewer:
First of all, M_Simakan, why did you sell him to Paris Saint-Germain all that time ago? And what previous attempts have you made to bring the defender back to the club?
AB:
We were in a period of development, Simakan was our best defender at the time but a deal with PSG for him came in and we received cash and a promising young talent in Nuno_Mendes.
Simakan was once himself the promising young star in our ranks and we believed that Nuno could be even better one day and we've always been looking for extra funds to improve the club one way or another so it made sense at the time.
As for our attempts to bring him back to the club. When Arsenal came in for him at the end of that season, we also were interested but couldn't raise the funds that PSG wanted and so we missed out but we always kept him on our radar hoping that an opportunity would come up further down the line and now it has. We spent most of last season positioning ourselves to bring him back home and with some good fortune and some good business we made it happen.
Interviewer:
Speaking of bringing him back, you've paid a pretty penny to do that haven't you? S_Botman AND M_Branthwaite go to Arsenal for his services
AB:
We have yes but we feel he's worth every penny. We signed Brantwaite fairly cheaply so for us it's not THAT much of a price to pay.
Knowing the Arsenal manager well, we knew we'd have to pay through the nose if we wanted any of their players as that's how they do business unfortunately but on this occasion we were happy to do so.
Interviewer:
You then sold defensive midfielder Y_Adli to Celtic for a staggering £200,000,000. Why did you make this decision and do you feel you got good value for the Frenchman?
AB:
Yacine has been a bit of a fringe player for us in recent seasons since the arrivals of Gonzalez & Camavinga and we felt like the time was right to move him on. For his own good as much as ours.
We ended up getting a really good price for him when you look around at better players in J_Grealish etc going for much less (£140,000,000) so we were happy at the time and even more so now.
Interviewer:
Onto the auction, you placed the clubs bid on 20 year old defender, C_Lukeba to the tune of £94,700,000.
Talk us through the decision to bid on him and the price you paid and furthermore if you were happy with the price the club paid
AB:
We knew what we wanted coming into the action, either a 5th defender or an upgrade on an existing player in our ranks and when we saw the talent available it was clear that Lukeba was the one for us.
We looked around at the other clubs' finances and made a bold decision to drop our bid to just under £95,000,000 after original projections at the club had us bidding over £120,000,000.
We were delighted to be the only club to bid on him, but on the other hand we could have saved a lot of money but overall, we signed him for much less than his value so we're happy.
Interviewer:
You can't have been THAT happy with him, as within a week you'd agreed a deal to sell him in the new year.
Talk us through the deal you've agreed that will see J_Timber AND a sum of £30,000,000 come in as Lukeba goes to Munich
AB:
We WERE happy with the signing of Lukeba, BUT an opportunity to improve our squad right now came up and we took it.
We could have spent the next 2 seasons developing the lad but we feel like we're past the development stage in our squad and so we got the instant upgrade on Lukeba and some money to sweeten the deal.
Originally Bayern manager Jon Banks wanted US to add the money to the deal but we all know how desperate he is for the youths in an effort to rebuild his squad and reputation as a good manager after numerous poor seasons.
Interviewer:
Another club who were thought to have landed themselves an auction bargain were Manchester United.
They signed defender P_Porro for £175,000,000.
Talk us through your thoughts on this and the auction as a whole
AB:
Well when you look back at previous auctions, United have always paid a high fee for their players so it'll be nice for them to get a bargain.
Porro is some talent and he'll fit in well at United as they have some real talent there.
The obvious talking point from the auction is Manchester City signing J_Bellingham for all that money. We all saw it coming and he'll be worth every penny.
Interviewer:
Manchester United signing Porro led to them transfer listing a number of players, T_Nianzou being one that peaked your interest.
Talk us through the process from initial contact between the clubs and the transfer being confirmed earlier today.
.
AB:
After signing Lukeba cheaply, we had cash to burn and after seeing that Nianzou had been transfer listed we knew that he was a player that could improve us so we reached out to the Manchester United manager, Steve Outten.
We ended up being in a bidding war with 2 other clubs but after we remained the highest bidder at £161,000,000 nothing happened.
Outten clutched at straws as he hoped Southampton would fail at auction in the second round and would come in bid for the defender, or for Atletico Madrid to loosen the purse strings for once and outbid Juventus but after a week of stalling he had no such luck.
At this point United tried a different approach but after more stalling they had exhausted both us, and all other options other than to sell him to us for £175,000,000.
I don't think either of us are happy with the fee. We've paid well over his current market value considering that there's not much money in the game, and United felt he was worth £200,000,000.
Maybe he was 6 weeks ago but a lot has changed and player values go up and down as money comes in and out of the game, this is something that the United manager doesn't seem to understand.
No doubt he'd point it out if he was signing rather than selling…
Interviewer:
Almost as soon as you welcomed Nianzou to the club, J_Sutalo departed the club for Spain as he has been sold to Atletico Madrid for £150,000,000.
Speak to us about how this deal came about and you'd thoughts on the deal.
AB:
When we were impatiently waiting on Stalling Steve over in Manchester to make his decisions, we figured out that Atletico Madrid were a club who were interested in bringing a defender to the club and when we spoke to their manager Simon Marsh, we learned that they'd not be bidding any higher than they already had which was around the 150 mark.
With this we saw the chance to sell one player to Madrid, pay a bit more and sign another from Manchester. However, Steve took so long to decide that we feared that Marsh would move on and find a player elsewhere.
However, Simon had the patience or a Saint and assured us that if we secured a deal with United and needed to move Sutalo on that they'd be there with the funds. For this I'd like to thank the Atletico manager and wish him and his club good luck for the upcoming season.
We feel that we got a fair price for the lad and now after all is said and done we have revamped our back line and have plenty of funds to use in the future so we're delighted.
Interviewer:
What ARE your plans for the future with this cash? You seem to have enough players, you seem to have the best players available to you that fit the mould of the what the club wants. What is next? Perhaps to invest in the youth academy system?
AB:
Absolutely not! I've seen the young lads train and we've been dealt a rough deal so I've taken the decision to pull the plug on the academy. Yes, I know by league rules we must keep it open with a certain number of players in there but with the talent that we've got in there they'll never amount to anything so we won't be investing any more than we have to.
We have the stadium that we will look at developing over time but for now we will sit on the cash and use it as and when we see fit.
We did flirt with the idea of selling D_Kulusevski to Southampton, as they've been looking to sign him all year, and bringing in F_Torres who Celtic were almost giving away yesterday for £85,000,000 thus giving us even more money for future auctions but we decided that Kulusevski is at the minute irreplaceable and will remain a Juventus player.
We don't know where the next improvement in the squad will be but we will be prepared for it whenever that opportunity comes.
Thank you for your questions, that's all I've got time for. I have to get back to game planning for our opening game vs AC Milan. A team who I think have had a very poor transfer window. Failing in the auction twice, desperately signing players from Roma for over inflated prices just to get them in some kind of shape for the season.
We expect a tough game but we should have more than enough quality to control that game if we do the hard work between now and then.
(Player names change often so I may have mixed some up/made up in my head signing T_Nianzou at auction. Either way, this is my story and I'm sticking to it)