For the first time in seven years, Juventus ushered in a new era in goal. Of course, it wasn’t the massive headline-grabbing departure of one the game’s truly legendary players, but seeing somebody other than Wojciech Szczesny in goal for Juventus took some time to get used to.
Szczesny, who first signed with Juventus in 2017 and first served as Gigi Buffon’s backup before becoming the full-time starter in 2018, made way for the reigning Serie A Goalkeeper of the Season, Michele Di Gregorio. For the former Inter Milan youth product, it was far and away the biggest step up of his career, one that had seen him play a key role in both Monza getting promoted and subsequently sticking in Serie A prior to his move to to Turin.
As much as Di Gregorio’s signing was seen as a transition from the man who took over for Buffon full time in 2018, it was also a signing that pointed toward how Thiago Motta wanted Juventus to play. Di Gregorio, as much as he’s proven to be a very good shot stopper, also grew a reputation for being very good with his feet — a key component of how Motta likes to play out of the back with the goalkeeper being involved in the build-up.
While Motta has since been fired after Juve went into the March international break with lopsided losses to Atalanta and Fiorentina, Di Gregorio proved more and more as the 2024-25 season went on that he has what it takes to stick in Turin.
Di Gregorio’s move from Monza included an obligation to buy this summer for an initial fee of €13.5 million — which looks like a relative bargain compared to what some other keepers have cost other high-profile clubs in very recent memory.
That means that a common thought that we’ve had for so many years will almost be certainly remain true following Di Gregorio’s first season in Turin alongside Mattia Perin and everybody’s favorite long-distance uncle, Carlo Pinsoglio: The Juventus goalkeeper is in very good shape and we hope it stays that way.
And thankfully, barring any sort of sudden change of plans, there won’t be any sort of transition plan put into action this summer, too.
Bologna v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images
Michele Di Gregorio — 7
If this was done at the midseason point rather than after all 38 league fixtures had been played, this probably would have been a much lower grade. But, when it comes to the entire picture, I was left with a feeling that Di Gregorio definitely got better — and more comfortable as Juve’s starter — as things went on.
Di Gregorio made mistakes this season. There’s no way around that. At times he looked unconvincing when he came off his line to claim balls in the air. He also let in goals in which he probably should have saved on more than just a couple of occasions. His distribution wasn’t always up to what it was billed to be — especially with his long-range passing.
But there were plenty of times this season when he left a feeling that was something like this: “If Di Gregorio didn’t make this save or that save, Juventus don’t get the result they got.”
Sure, it is the most fresh in all of our minds, but just look at the save he made in the season finale against Venezia. It’s not only a fantastic save no matter the context because of how difficult it was, but it came just a couple of minutes before the goal that secured Juventus Champions League qualification. There, of course, are other examples, too. (A few of those saves in the first Derby d’Italia of the season ... my goodness.)
Di Gregorio’s counting stats in goal aren’t as impressive as what we saw from him last season with Monza when he was named Serie A’s best goalkeeper. Is that a by-product of facing less shots as compared to a Monza side that forced Di Gregorio into a league-high 122 saves a year ago? Yeah, it certainly played its part. This season, Di Gregorio made 51 fewer saves than he did a year ago, facing 56 total shots on target fewer compared to his final season with Monza.
Yet as I watched Di Gregorio the last couple of months of the season, he just looked much more comfortable in goal compared to his first 10-15 appearances with Juventus. Maybe that was due to the fact that Juve had only one competition to compete in so the rotation between him and Perin basically went away. Or maybe it was just he finally did find that level of comfortability in which he could show his true ability as a goalkeeper.
Please consider what one guy said as he noticed Di Gregorio get better as the season went on. That would be Buffon himself, who said in a recent interview: “I see (Di Gregorio) very well. It wasn’t easy to take over from someone like Szczesny, especially for someone in his first season at a big club. And I especially like how he behaves in difficult moments: there are those who sink, he holds his ground.”
With the season now over, it’s crazy to think about how there was so much change in front of him because of all the injuries Juventus suffered in defense. It’s also maybe somewhat surprising that Juve didn’t allow more goals as a result of all that. That can be credited a good amount to Di Gregorio, who is probably eagerly awaiting Bremer’s return from injury as much as all of we are.
Juventus v Bologna - Serie A Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images
Mattia Perin — 7
Perin looked to be one of the biggest benefactors of Motta’s desire to rotate keepers more than a lot of other managers. It didn’t matter who it might have been against, Perin was definitely a bigger part of the early season league schedule than he had been the previous campaign when Juventus didn’t have any European football on the schedule.
Combine that with a few Champions League appearances thrown for multiple reasons and Perin was on pace for more than double the amount of playing time than during the 2023-24 season.
And then, it all dried up.
Perin’s final appearance of the season ultimately came in Juventus ill-fated Coppa Italia quarterfinal against Empoli in which they were eliminated by a team that was playing their second-string lineup. With no Champions League football on top of that, it was pretty much Di Gregorio’s show the rest of the way and Perin was there in case something happened to Juve’s starter in goal.
When Perin was in goal, he was very good no matter the circumstances. That’s not a surprise from him at this point considering he embraces the challenge of being the backup goalkeeper at Juventus where he knows he won’t play as much as he would at a smaller club where he’d start 30-plus games a season and do it for as long as he wanted.
The unfortunate part of Perin’s season is that some of his best performances are attached to some of Juve’s most forgettable moments under Motta. The loss to Stuttgart in the Champions League? Perin made eight saves, many of them of the high-quality variety, including a stunning save from the penalty spot mere moments before Stuttgart went ahead. The Champions League league phase finale against Benfica? If it wasn’t for Perin, that 2-0 loss in Portugal would have been a lot worse. Even some of his best saves weren’t enough to prevent Juve from losing this season.
That, unfortunately, is the life of a backup goalkeeper. You’ve got a limited amount of appearances, you know it and you simply try and ensure that train keeps on rolling.
With Perin signing a contract extension through 2027 back in late October, it feels pretty safe to say that Juventus’ goalkeeper room will look a lot like it did this season unless something drastically changes over the next couple of months. And Perin staying is
Juventus v Verona - Serie A Photo by Loris Roselli/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Carlo Pinsoglio — s/v
One of the most notable things about Juventus’ season finale having so much attached to it is that we didn’t get a typical Pinsoglio appearance.
No Pinso Time this time around — which, honestly, was understandable.
it’s the second time in the last three seasons we didn’t get the unofficial tradition of seeing Pinsoglio — who has been Juventus’ No. 3 goalkeeper since the 2017-18 campaign — step onto the field as a second-half sub during the season finale. Considering what was happening in what proved to be a 3-2 win over Venezia, it’s not like there was a window for it.
Oh well.
Season-ending appearance or no season-ending appearance, he’s got one of the best jobs in the game and he’s not expected to leave the club he grew up at as he is a few months removed from his 35th birthday.
He’s the longest-tenured Juventus player on the roster and has a contract that runs through 2026. He’s from Moncalieri that’s just outside of Turin, so he’s basically Turin born and bread and a boyhood Juventino living out his long-standing dream.
Could be worse, right?