Juventus January Transfer Business Was Their Best Window In Years

In the end, it was the best transfer window Juventus have had in years.

With the Italian transfer window now shut until the summer, many Juventus supporters are jumping for joy at how well the club operated on the market.

Dusan Vlahovic and Denis Zakaria arrived, while Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur and Aaron Ramsey all departed. Moreover, Juve have saved money via getting the majority of Ramsey's excessive salary off the books for the next six months.

Juve's mercato was so good that La Gazzetta dello Sport awarded it nine out of 10. The next best was Inter, with eight.

Nobody - at least in Italy - produced a January window like The Old Lady.

You have to go back to the middle of last decade for the last time Juventus performed this well in a window. Back to the days of the peak Beppe Marotta era, when a mixture of free signings and shrewd investments had almost become Juve's trademark.

From about 2016 on, the club eventually lost sight of what made them one of the canniest clubs on the transfer market. As Juve reached multiple Champions League finals, the investments became bigger, more grandiose, but not necessarily wiser, resulting in the club's debt growing exponentially.

The dismissal of Fabio Paratici, who was awful as sporting director when left to his own devices, and the arrival of Maurizio Arrivabene has seen Juve return to basics, to return to the same modus operandi that worked so successfully in the early years of the club's near decade-long supremacy of the Italian game.

Investments would be made, but on young talents, who could be sold on further down the line if need be.

Juve needed a striker, and in Vlahovic they've got one of the best young strikers anywhere in Europe. Only Robert Lewandowski scored more goals in Europe's top five leagues than Vlahovic, and with Juve being frugal in front of goal this season, Max Allegri needs Vlahovic's goals now more than ever.

In Zakaria, Juve have bought a midfielder the club haven't had since the glory days of Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba. The Swiss international possesses dynamism, technique and can go box-to-box, something the club have lacked since Vidal left in 2015. Blaise Matuidi has been the closest thing Juve have had to Vidal since he left, but the Frenchman's best days were just behind him when he joined.

In Zakaria, who is still only 25, they finally have a midfielder who can replace Vidal. He should dovetail nicely with the squad's more technically gifted midfielders, like Manuel Locatelli and Arthur Melo.

Juve's midfield, often ponderous and pedestrian, will be given a shot in the arm with the signing of Zakaria, and his presence will inject some much needed pace and bite.

The departures of Bentancur, Kulusevski and Ramsey are also huge positives. Especially Ramsey, who has been surplus to requirements for months after it was made pretty clear that there was no future for him at the club under Allegri.

His move to Rangers marks the end of what was a frustrating time for him in Italy, a time spent more on the bench or in the treatment room than on the pitch. Ramsey only took to the field for 112 minutes this season which, as La Gazzetta pointed out last week, worked out at over EUR41,000-per-minute.

Nice work if you can get it.

Kulusevski, while a very talented footballer, just wasn't a good fit. The Swede rose to stardom playing in Parma's counter-attacking side under Roberto D'Aversa, but with Juve expecting the majority of the ball against the opposition most of the time and facing banks of defenders, Kulusevski found it difficult.

Moreover, he lacked the explosive pace of a Federico Chiesa to dance past players in individual duels in tight spaces. His ability is better suited for teams who are set up to strike fast and use space in behind.

Bentancur meanwhile never really kicked on from his first couple of really good seasons at Juve. Over the past two years he's looked lost, with various managers utilising him in different positions.

The Uruguayan is better when operating higher up the pitch, and not as a regista at the base of the midfield, which is where Andrea Pirlo, Maurizio Sarri and Allegri tended to use him.

The sales of Kulusevski and Bentancur to Tottenham, in the region of EUR64m (30% of Bentancur's fee goes to Boca Juniors due to an agreement between them and Juventus when he signed in 2017), in essence pays for most of the Vlahovic deal.

For the first time in years, Juventus have executed the perfect window. They got what they needed, and trimmed some of the fat from their bloated squad.

And now a top four finish is very much on.

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