Without a Scudetto Target, Luciano Spalletti is the Strongest Candidate for Juventus' New Coach

TURIN, TUESDAY – Juventus has made former Italian national team coach, Luciano Spalletti, the main candidate to fill the tactical position for the remainder of the 2025-2026 competition campaign. Spalletti has requested conditions to be able to form his own squad over the next 30 months before returning "La Vecchia Signora" to the competition for the Italian championship title.

After announcing the termination of his employment with Igor Tudor, Monday (27/10/2025), Juve General Manager Damien Comolli immediately contacted Spalletti's representative, namely Samuelle Spalletti, who is the son of the coach who led Napoli to the 2022-2023 Scudetto.

Comolli is scheduled to speak directly with Juve's prospective new manager on Tuesday (October 28, 2025) afternoon Italian time (Western Indonesian Time). According to Sky Sports, Spalletti is open to an offer from the now-confused Old Lady.

Tuttosport added that Spalletti had set realistic conditions for Juve's offer. He wouldn't mind accepting an initial contract until the end of the 2025-2026 season.

Before shaking hands, Spalletti is expected to ask for 30 months (2.5 years) to rebuild the Juve squad.

However, Spalletti emphasized the existence of an automatic two-year contract extension clause if Juve can reach the Champions League places, or the top four. Spalletti doesn't want to be burdened with the Scudetto target this season or next. In fact, the ambition of chasing the Serie A title, last won in 2019-2020, wasn't included in Spalletti's initial goals.

“Before shaking hands, Spalletti is expected to ask for 30 months (2.5 years) to rebuild the Juve squad,” reads the lead report in Tuesday’s edition of Tuttosport.

Referring to the current condition of the Juve squad, it is indeed difficult to compete with other teams in Italy. Dusan Vlahovic, the main striker, is still struggling to find his best performance. Likewise, with the two new strikers, Lois Openda and Jonathan David.

Failing to score in four consecutive matches is evidence that the attacking line of the Old Lady is currently facing issues. This is certainly different from when Spalletti had Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during his final season managing Napoli.

In the midfield position, creativity is also not flourishing. The stock of midfield players at Juve, which includes Manuel Locatelli, Teun Koopmeiners, Weston McKennie, and Khephren Thuram, is also overshadowed by inconsistency.

Juve is also experiencing a defensive crisis after center-back and deputy captain, Bremer, suffered an injury. This has resulted in Juve going eight matches without a win.

Gianluigi Buffon, the living legend of Juve, considers Spalletti, who is 66 years old, to be the right figure to revive Juve from its current poor period.

"For me, Luciano (Spalletti) is the right profile for a big team that wants to remain ambitious. The team won't lose many games with him," Buffon told Corriere dello Sport.

"He is an outstanding professional choice. Luciano is the best figure available at this time based on experience, charisma, and authority," added Buffon, who has lifted 21 major trophies with Juve.

Since breaking into the elite list of Italian coaches while managing AS Roma at the beginning of the 2005-2006 season, Spalletti has consistently achieved a winning record of over 50 percent. This has been recorded with Roma, Inter Milan, Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia), and Napoli.

Before officially appointing a new coach, Juve will be led by an interim coach in the match against Udinese on Thursday (30/10/2025) at 00:30 WIB. The temporary tactician is Massimo Brambilla, who holds the position of Coach of Juventus Next Gen, which competes in Serie C.

The change in the head coach position is believed to not be able to restore the identity of the giant team in Italy. More than just the head coach of the main team, a strong demand for a revolution in the management ranks has been voiced by many parties.

A giant banner reading the phrase "Uno di Noi" or "One of Us" was installed by the Ultras Juve group at the main entrance of the Allianz Arena Stadium. Another smaller phrase written on the white fabric banner states "il pesce puzza dalla testa," which means "the fish rots from the head."

Juve supporters believe that the decision to dismiss three coaches in the last 18 months is due to the mismanagement of the team led by John Elkann. As a result of the reckless decisions in selecting coaches, Juve will be paying three coaches until the end of the 2026-2027 season.

A new coach will receive a salary, and Mrs. Big will also pay compensation for the early termination of the contracts of Thiago Motta and Tudor. The duration of the compensation installments is valid until June 2027.

The culmination of poor management decisions was the dismissal of Tudor when the Italian League had just completed eight matches. The Croatian coach became the sixth coach to have his contract terminated as the new season entered its eighth week. This dismal record was last experienced by Luis Carniglia at the beginning of the 1969-1970 season.

The president of Juventus from 2006 to 2009, Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, assessed that Tudor's report card in managing Juventus is not negative. In addition to leading Juventus to break into the top four last season, Tudor has proven capable of delivering outstanding performances for Juventus in several major matches, one of which was against Inter.

“Something that is not working within the club's mechanisms is beyond Tudor's authority,” Gigli told TMW.

He added, "The transfer strategy appears promising, but it is dysfunctional for the team. The primary responsibility lies with the club, but the first to bear the brunt of it should be the coach."

When asked about his favorite candidate for the Juventus coaching position, Gigli leaned more towards Roberto Mancini rather than Spalletti. According to him, Mancini is more promising in elevating Juventus' status in the competition in Italy.