Even as Juventus went about their summer transfer business, there was one very glaring hole (amongst a few) whenever thinking of the ongoing mercato: there isn’t the actual sporting director doing these negotiations. No matter how adept new Juve general manager Damien Comolli might have been when it came to conducting transfer business, that was not exactly the job he was brought in to do.
July came and went with no sporting director hired. Despite rumors, the same can be said for August and September,
too. Now that we’re closing in on the midway point of October, there could actually be movement on the hiring of a sporting director front.
Or at least we can only hope so.
According to Fabrizio Romano earlier this week, Genoa sporting director Marco Ottolini has emerged as the top candidate for the same job at Juventus. Ottolini, 45, would complete the remake of Juventus’ front office following the springtime departure of Cristiano Giuntoli and the vast majority of his staff that arrived in the summer of 2023 from Napoli (and elsewhere). Ottolini would, if hired, become one of the most central figures at Juventus as they try and remake their roster amidst still-interesting yet seemingly improving financial times, with experience in both getting Genoa promoted and staying in Serie A while also seeing quality talent come through the club’s youth ranks as it continues to be one of the top academies in Italy.
Ottolini has reportedly emerged from a list of candidates that consisted of a handful of non-Italian options. Romano said that “He’s not the only name on Juventus’ list — there’s a shortlist with more names, but Ottolini is the favorite.”
For as much as Ottolini is currently Genoa’s sporting director, he does have a past with Juventus.
A native of Gardone Val Trompia, Ottolini joined the Juve management team in 2018 as a scout. He worked in that position for three years until was promoted to the club’s loans manager in 2021, serving as the point man for all of Juventus’ players who were out on loan.
Prior to the start of the 2022-23 season, Ottolini moved to the Marassi to take over as Genoa’s sporting director.
It came at a difficult time for the club having just been relegated to Serie B and dealing with off-field issues with the status of their ownership group, United States-based private equity firm 777 Partners. (They eventually went bankrupt and were sold to Romanian businessman Dan Sucu in December 2024.)
During his three years with Genoa, Ottolini has become well known for his ability to strike while the iron is hot and sell players he signed on relatively affordable deals for a nice profit. A couple of those players are ones that he signed from Juventus — Radu Dragusin and Koni De Winter — and then sold them to Tottenham and AC Milan, respetively, for a combined price tag of around €51 million.
Could Comolli have found his new sporting director after months of speculation? Seems we’ll find out soon.
