Luciano Spalletti is done with his few months back on his vineyard and hanging out with his favorite geese and ducks in the Tuscan sunshine. He is back in the game — and Juventus hope that he is the man
who can, at the very least, get things headed in the right direction once again following a brutal eight-game stretch over the last six weeks.
After two days of talks both remotely and in-person during a meeting in Rome, there is a new manager at Juventus.
The club officially announced Spalletti’s arrival on Thursday, ending a two-day period in which he quickly emerged as the clear-cut favorite to replace Igor Tudor as Juventus manager following the Croatian being fired in the aftermath of Sunday’s loss to Lazio. Spalletti, out of work since being dismissed as the Italian national team manager back in early June, arrives at Juventus during a time in which the club was in the midst of an eight-game winless run before their 3-1 win over Udinese, with the last three of those games being losses to Como, Real Madrid and most recently Lazio all within an eight-day period.
Spalletti, as previously reported, has agreed (and now signed) a contract until the end of the 2025-26 season. That is only part of it, of course, with an option that will automatically kick in if Spalletti guides Juventus into a top-four finish and qualifies for Champions League football next season.
With Next Gen manager Massimo Brambilla in charge for Juve’s win against Udinese, Spalletti is set to take charge and be on the training fields at Continassa come Friday as the final details of his contract are being worked out and will make his debut as coach during Saturday night’s game against Cremonese in Cremona.
Here are the official details of the Spalletti hiring, courtesy of Juventus’ press office:
Luciano Spalletti is the new head coach of Juventus, signing an agreement with the Club until June 30, 2026.
Born in Certaldo, in the province of Florence, in 1959, Spalletti began his coaching career 30 years ago after playing for Spezia and Empoli, among others. He began his coaching career at the Tuscan club, winning the Serie C Coppa Italia before leading the club to Serie A promotion, establishing himself as one of the most innovative coaches in Italy.
He enjoyed an impressive tenure with Udinese in the early 2000s, securing three consecutive years of European competition qualification before – in the 2004/05 season – guiding the Friuli club to their first-ever Champions League qualification berth, which then took him to Roma for the next four seasons, where he lifted two Coppa Italia trophies as well as the Supercoppa Italiana.
From 2009 to 2014, Spalletti managed Zenit St. Petersburg, winning two league titles, a domestic cup as well as the Russian Super Cup, before returning to Italy to take charge of Roma and then Inter. After winning the Serie A title at the end of the 2022/23 season with Napoli, the Tuscan coach then served as head coach of the Italian national team until June this year.
We are delighted to welcome a coach with such expertise and experience to the Bianconeri family: welcome to Juventus and good luck, coach!
With his arrival, Spalletti has officially become the third manager Juventus has employed in the past 18 months. First it was Thiago Motta — that lasted all of 10 months. Then Tudor was brought in to try and secure Champions League football after Motta’s firing — he ended up being employed for just seven months. It’s part of a pattern after both of Max Allegri’s two tenures as manager in which Juventus just burn through coach after coach.
It’s a churn that could continue if Juve aren’t able to get back into the top four and qualify for Europe’s premier club competition next season. Or, it’s one that potentially stops for a little while with the 66-year-old Spalletti, who guided Napoli to their first Scudetto in 30-plus years — and has the tattoo to prove it — during the 2023-24 campaign.
Much like when Tudor came in for Motta back in March, Juventus are in need of somebody to try and steady the ship after a brutal run of form. Before Wednesday night’s win over Udinese, Juventus hadn’t scored in their last four games in all competitions and scored all of twice in the month of October. They hadn’t won a game since their Derby d’Italia victory over Inter Milan nearly seven weeks ago. It’s all gone bad in a hurry — and the decision to part ways with Tudor less than 12 hours after the Lazio loss last Sunday night was further proof of how far (and fast) things have fallen.
So here comes Spalletti — a manager with so much more experience than either of the last two coaches at Juventus combined — to try and work a little in-season magic and get Juve back into the top four. It won’t be easy, but Juve have turned to somebody who has shown to be a quality coach in the past.
