Juventus boss Max Allegri made ‘a mistake’ not putting his faith in Radu Dragusin with the former Serie A defender sealing a £26 million move to Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur this week.
Well, it’s better to learn late than to learn never.
Massimiliano Allegri, if he could turn back the clock, may have done a little more to integrate a then-teenage Radu Dragusin into the first-team picture at Juventus. Particularly with the era of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci coming to an end.
Dragusin, despite his obvious talent, made only one Serie A appearance for the Bianconeri before joining Genoa in the summer of 2022. The sight of Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Scudetto holders Napoli scrapping it out for the Romanian’s signature 18 months later certainly didn’t reflect particularly well on Allegri.
But, to his credit, the veteran tactician is proof that – sometimes – leopards do change their spots.
Tottenham snap up former Juventus man
“Allegri is good at bringing young people (into the team these days),” Giancarlo Marocchi, a Champions League winner with Juventus in the 1990s, tells Sky Italia.
“Dragusin had moved to those parts, but Alex Sandro was preferred to him (despite the fact that the Brazilian) only had one year left on his contract. That was a mistake.
“But (Allegri) is making up for it greatly.”
Fabio Miretti, Nicolo Fagioli, Hans Nicolussi Caviglia and Samuel Iling-Junior – all aged 23 or under – are semi-regular fixtures in the Juventus team these days, Allegri learning from past mistakes. 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz, meanwhile, scored his third goal in the space of just three weeks against Frosinone in the Coppa Italia on Thursday.
Radu Dragusin hoping to make Premier League bow
It’s fair to say Dragusin has not let that Juve experience stall his development, one of Europe’s up-and-coming centre-halves needing only a few months of Serie A football at Genoa to convince Tottenham that he was worth a considerable punt.
Dragusin could make his debut under Ange Postecoglou away to Manchester United this weekend.
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