With just a few months left in the 2025-26 season, Juventus face an uncertain future both on and off the pitch. The Bianconeri will end the season trophyless, having lost to Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League and Atalanta in the Coppa Italia. The Scudetto is well out of reach, and Juve currently find themselves in an uphill battle to secure Serie A’s final Champions League spot, sitting one point behind Roma and Como, six behind Napoli, 10 behind AC Milan, and 17 behind league leaders Inter
Milan.
It goes without saying that qualifying for Europe’s biggest competition will shape Juve’s ability to splurge on top players, and that failing to do so will severely handicap their financial potency. But even so, there’s no doubt that Juve’s spine is already being assembled. Khéphren Thuram, Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie have formed a superb midfield trio, Pierre Kalulu has impressed on the right side of defense, whilst Kenan Yıldız has emerged as the club’s attacking talisman.
No matter what happens, Juve look to be moving towards a squad overhaul, with their backline in particular being primed for a rebuild. In attack, meanwhile, the Bianconeri are gearing towards a shift at the center forward position, with Dušan Vlahović entering the final contracts of his deal and Loïs Openda and Jonathan David potentially on their way out after a season. And over on the right side of attack, Juve have a dilemma on their hands: whether to stick with Francisco Conceição or not.
The son of Portugal international Sérgio Conceição, Francisco “Chico” Fernandes da Conceição rose through the ranks at Porto’s academy, becoming the second-youngest Porto player to feature in a UEFA Champions League match after coming on in the final minutes of their win vs. Juventus. The following season would see him emerge as a valuable supersub under his father, helping the Dragons claim the domestic double in 2021/22.
After a season at Ajax, Conceição returned to the Estádio do Dragão and established himself as an indispensable figure for Porto, racking up 8 goals and 8 assists in 43 appearances and helping Porto win the Taça de Portugal, before heading off to Germany and making his presence felt during Portugal’s Euro 2024 run. It wasn’t long before the likes of Vítor Severino and Stevie Grieve were lauding him with praise and heralding him as one of the brightest prospects in world football.
“When I left Porto, people were already talking a lot about him,” stated Severino in an exclusive Black & White & Read All Over interview. Severino got his first big coaching breakthrough during his time with Porto’s reserves before working with a number of talented players across Europe, South America, and Asia, including a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. “Informally, they’d always say, ‘Look, Sérgio Conceição has a lot of sons who are footballers, but there’s one in particular who’s really talented: Francisco.”
“I’ve accompanied his journey and I think he’s incredibly talented, but as far as the rest, whether he can succeed in the future will depend on many things. But he’s at the highest level in the Portuguese national team. I think he really is a great player, a different kind of player, a virtuoso from a technical point of view, and he displays features that are gradually disappearing from world football. I like that type of player, I appreciate it, and I think he’s an extremely interesting player. Just like his father, besides being a good player technically, he’s a player who has grit and attitude, and that’s why he’s reached the highest level one can reach in Portugal: the national team.‘
These stellar displays at the club and international level earned him a move to Juventus, where he racked up seven goals and six assists in 40 appearances last season, before leading Portugal to glory in the UEFA Nations League Finals. Despite missing various swaths of the 2024-25 season due to injury, despite failing to solidify a starting spot, Juventus had no qualms whatsoever about converting the loan into a permanent transfer, signing him to a five-year deal and paying €30.4 million plus €1.6 million in potential bonuses.
Francisco has captivated the Juve fanbase thanks to his ability to twist and turn out of congested space and bamboozle his opponent with a drop of the shoulder or a body feint or a carefully coordinated stepover, with his technical finesse and close control leaving many supporters begging for more. But he hasn’t completely convinced and has often frustrated Juve fans due to his inconsistent end product, his tendency to lose possession, and his diminutive physical framework.
Nevertheless, there’s reason to believe that Conceição is starting to a turn a corner under Luciano Spalletti and establish himself as an essential figure on the right side of attack, having already provided as many goal contributions (3) since the start of February as the previous five months of the campaign. After a dismal run of form that saw them lose four of their five matches and suffer elimination from the Champions League against Galatasaray, Conceição helped Juve kick off March on the right foot with a valiant display at the Stadio Olimpico.
Going up against the best defense in Serie A, Conceição stole the show with an electrifying display that saw him register three shots, two key passes, and three progressive carries in a 3-3 draw at Roma. And when Wesley opened the scoring for the hosts, Conceição was the one who stepped up and equalized momentarily. Roma batted away Teun Koopmeiners’ free kick, with the ball falling to Gleison Bremer, who cushioned it towards Conceição at the edge of the box.
Conceição had not found the back of the net since Dec. 20 against Roma, when he stealthily inched into the box and latched onto a passing combination by Yıldız and Andrea Cambiaso, taking two soft touches with his preferred left foot before striking the ball into the right corner. But while Mile Svilar was well aware of his potential threat, he had no way of stopping him from the finding of the back of the net.
This time, Conceição didn’t take three touches, but one, leaning backwards, getting the full extent of his hips behind his shot, and firing an ascendant half-volley into the top left corner. The missile arrived via Conceição’s left boot, but it may as well have come from a bazooka, such was its unstoppable trajectory.
It was more of the same at the weekend, with Conceição carving out Juve’s first big chance after making an incisive run on the shoulder of the opposing defense before teeing up David, who passed it to Thuram, who blasted just over the net. His pace and intuition proved an issue for Pisa throughout the match, with Conceição latching onto a pass over the top from Locatelli, taking his time for his teammates to arrive, before cutting onto his left and firing a low, bouncing shot that was saved by Nicolas.
Just before halftime, Conceição robbed an opponent of possession before scampering forward and playing a one-two with Kalulu, evading a multitude of defenders only for his shot to be blocked by Antonio Caracciolo. However, he was not to be denied, and in the 54th minute, he instigated the opener after unleashing Yıldız with a world-class through ball, whose cross fell perfectly for Cambiaso to head into the back of the net.
He didn’t just prove effective as an outlet and a playmaker, but as a defender, reading an opposing pass to perfection and intercepting it before engineering a counterattack with a precise through ball to Yıldız, who teed up Jéremié Boga, whose shot sailed north. The Portuguese winger put the game to bed with a quarter-hour left after luring in two yellow shirts and waiting for McKennie to arrive before dropping his shoulder and dishing it off to Yıldız, who worked his magic and slotted home the third goal in a 4-0 win.
All things considered, it was one of Conceição’s best performances in his Italian football journey, having registered six shots, completed 30 out of 32 passes and 9 out of 11 dribbles, as well as making nine progressive carries, in addition to winning 11 out of 15 ground duels and making three recoveries and two defensive contributions. It was yet another reminder why Conceição is considered one of the brightest young talents in Portuguese football alongside the likes of Geovany Quenda, Ricardo Neto, Carlos Forbs, and Rodrigo Mora, and why he’s likely to make Roberto Martínez’s squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup squad.
Moreover, it was even more proof that Conceição has what it takes to continue as Juventus’ starting right winger going into the 2026-27 season. He may not be the finished article just yet, but there’s every reason to believe that Conceição is capable of evolving into one of the very best right wingers in football and form a devastating wing duo alongside Yıldız. He has taken his game to new heights this season, ranking second in their squad for shots (2.1) and shots on target (0.7) per 90 as well as 1.8 successful dribbles per 90 (56% completion rate) in Serie A.
There are plenty of Juventus players who will be on the chopping block this summer like Edon Zhegrova, who has barely played since his €15.5 million move from Lille due to Conceição’s form and his season-long minutes restriction. Players like Michele Di Gregorio, Openda, Arkadiusz Milik, David, Juan Cabal, Vasilije Adžić, and Filip Kostić. But there’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever that one of the handful of indispensable players who should be considered off-limits with regards to a potential sale is Conceição.
From Mohamed Salah to Khvicha Kvaratshkelia, Spalletti has worked with a number of promising young talents and refined them into the best wingers in world football. At 23, could Francisco Conceição be the next to make the leap into superstardom and become a world-class figure under Spalletti? Don’t bet against it.
