Juventus roll the dice after costly Motta flop

MILAN: Juventus gambled on their short-term future after dumping Thiago Motta in the hope of securing a spot in next season´s Champions League and attracting a big name replacement who can put right some costly mistakes.

Motta fell victim on Sunday to poor results and a strained relationship with both club management and his expensively assembled squad, all of which had the “Old Lady” of Italian football once again in turmoil.

His statement released on Monday afternoon, in which he thanked Juventus for “the opportunity to be a part of a great club” belied a fraught 10 months in charge. Former Italy international Motta was supposed to be the key addition to Juve´s move away from a recent past filled with mishaps, scandal and heavy financial losses when he arrived in June.

He was a new face for a new-look Juve who in recent seasons had suffered the ignominy of a points deduction for transfer offences and then Paul Pogba´s doping ban soap opera, all as the Milan teams, Napoli and even provincial upstarts Atalanta stole the limelight from Italy´s biggest club.

Tasked with making Juve a more dynamic, modern team after the stodgy football of Massimiliano Allegri, Motta was heavily backed to the tune of over 200 million euros ($217 million) in a squad rebuild after arriving on a high from taking Bologna into the Champions League.

Such were the positive vibes around Turin last summer that Juve were tipped to challenge champions and fiercest rivals Inter Milan for the Serie A title, a prediction which looked accurate after they began the season with two thumping 3-0 wins over Como and Verona.

But the promised on-pitch revolution never came, with a series of uninspiring performances and the two most expensive summer signings -- midfielders Teun Koopmeiners and Douglas Luiz -- failing to justify the over 100 million euros invested in buying them from Atalanta and Aston Villa.

Early elimination from the Champions League, an embarrassing exit from the Italian Cup at the hands of lowly Empoli and their two most recent thumpings by Atalanta and Fiorentina (4-0 and 3-0 respectively) meant Motta likely wouldn´t have lasted the summer even if he had made it to the end of the season.

Motta´s reign ended with Juve sitting one point outside the top four and below his former club Bologna, who under Vincenzo Italiano may be the team to finish in Italy´s fourth and final spot in Europe´s top club competition.

The Juve hierarchy have also damaged relations with supporters after the way the dismissal was handled, exactly a week after the heavy defeat at Fiorentina prompted sporting Cristiano Giuntoli to insist that Motta was part of a “long-term project”.

His replacement Igor Tudor, a nomadic coach who spent the bulk of his playing career at Juve, now has the task of getting Champions League qualification and the guaranteed millions that would put back in the club´s coffers.

Tudor is set to take his first training session on Monday afternoon ahead of the visit of Genoa on Saturday, but he almost certainly won´t be in charge come the start of next season and is putting himself in the shop window after agreeing to lead Juve until the end of the current campaign.

The former Croatia midfielder is on the face of it an odd choice of interim coach as he has been out of work since last summer after fulfilling the same temporary role at Lazio following the resignation of Maurizio Sarri.

But Juve´s hand was forced as two of their reported targets, club legend Antonio Conte and Gian Piero Gasperini, are engaged in the league title race with Napoli and Atalanta, while Roberto Mancini wanted Champions League qualification rewarded with a guaranteed contract renewal. Juve are hoping that one of those three, but in particular Conte, will be able to lead another revamp and reclaim their place as Italy´s top team.