If you can’t beat them, join them. But what if they can’t beat you? Leonardo Bonucci
Niklas Kronwall Authentic Jerseyturned the old adage on its head this summer, swapping the Juventus team where he had won six consecutive Serie A titles for a Milan side that haven’t finished higher than sixth for four years.Can one transfer transform a division? Just ask Juventus, whose signing of Andrea Pirlo after he was discarded by Milan in 2011 was arguably the most crucial factor in launching them back to the pinnacle of Italian football after their post-Calciopoli wilderness years. Bonucci is a different player, in a different role, though he did learn a thing or two from his former team-mate when it comes to ball distribution. Milan are not asking him to turn things around single-handed. The club has splashed close to €200m on transfers this summer and may not be done yet. We could see as many as eight new faces in the starting XI when they line up against Crotone on the opening weekend, including André Silva, Franck Kessié, Hakan Calhanoglu, Ricardo Rodríguez and Andrea Conti.Even in that context, though, Bonucci stands apart. This is no emerging talent but one of the best in the world at his position. A centre-back who has been capped 70 times by Italy and started two of the last three Champions League finals. No wonder Milan handed him the club captaincy. How could Juventus, who up until recently seemed more interested in signing stars away from their domestic rivals, let it come to this? Bonucci’s departure was foreshadowed by a falling out with Massimiliano Allegri, who banished him to the stands for the Champions League visit
http://www.officialredwingsauthentic.com/authentic-13-pavel-datsyuk-jersey.html to Porto in February as a punishment for talking back during their win over Palermo. The player has since indicated that “there were other incidents before that, if perhaps a little less obvious”.Even so, would it not have made more sense to sell Bonucci to one of the many foreign clubs who had shown an interest? In a nation that has a specific word – “dietrologia” – to denote the common habit of seeking out ulterior motives behind public actions, it’s almost surprising that more has not been made of Andrea Agnelli’s remark in early July that he “hope[d] to see the Milanese clubs back on our heels” in the standings before long. The Juventus chairman has suggested more than once that a higher standard of competition at the top of Serie A would benefit the league as a whole, bringing more fans – and hence more advertising revenue. This consideration alone could hardly provoke such a sale but it is a strain of thinking that may just have made his club more open to the concept.One way or another, Bonucci’s move – and Milan’s lavish spending in general – certainly has ramped up the sense of anticipation for this new season. An astonishing 65,000 fans showed up at San Siro for the Rossoneri’s Europa League third-round qualifier against Craiova. Bonucci, who did not play but was introduced to the crowd
Josh McRoberts Authentic Jersey along with fellow new signing Lucas Biglia, described it as “one of the few times I’ve ever felt nervous entering a stadium”. Can Milan compete for a
[img width=118,height=118]http://www.officialheatauthentic.com/images//nba_jerseys_new/miami_heat/heat_594.jpg[/img]title right away? For a club spending so liberally, a return to the Champions League must be a minimum ambition. There are those who also believe that Juventus are vulnerable. The champions looked limp in their Supercoppa defeat by Lazio, with only their newly anointed No10, Paulo Dybala, displaying the spirit and sharpness we have come to expect.Beyond the obvious question of how Juventus will be impacted by losing Bonucci and Dani Alves, there have been concerns about their depth in midfield. Douglas Costa and Federico Bernardeschi will lend Allegri fresh options at the top of his formation but it will not be easy for either man to shine as long as their team are getting swamped in the centre of the park, as they were against Lazio. Perhaps Blaise Matuidi, newly signed from Paris Saint-Germain, can provide the combativeness the Old Lady lacked at the Stadio Olimpico. In any case, we should guard against reading too much into a single performance. Juventus remain the favourites to claim a seventh consecutive Scudetto. It is worth remembering this team have said goodbye to Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Carlos Tevez, Álvaro Morata and Paul Pogba in the past two years and always kept moving forwards.Milan are not the only club chasing them. Napoli have had a low-key transfer window but avoided losing any key elements of a team that have already proven themselves
http://www.officialheatauthentic.com/authentic-4-josh-mcroberts-jersey.html capable of competing with the champions. Two of the Partenopei’s four Serie A defeats last season arrived in the space of one October fortnight, after Arkadiusz Milik had torn his knee ligaments on international duty. Exclude this brief, awkward period – as the manager, Maurizio Sarri, sought to remodel his team without the only true target man on his books – and they essentially matched Juventus stride for stride. Indeed, they came to look even deadlier with Dries Mertens leading the line.
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