Every year when we write our season reviews, we verify which players belong in which category/group of positions. This is generally a formality because it’s usually obvious which position each player belongs to: Dusan Vlahovic is clearly a striker, Federico Gatti obviously a center back, Manuel Locatelli a central midfielder, and so on.
But for some positions in some seasons, it’s a little more complicated. This season, the fullbacks was one of those. Was Andrea Cambiaso more a fullback, a wingback, or a central midfielder? Did Timothy Weah play enough at right back to be grouped into the fullbacks category? And what about Weston “I-play-everywhere-except-center-back-and-goalkeeper” McKennie?
There are a few possible explanations for this ambiguity. First, it could be a sign that Juventus still hasn’t found long-term solutions at the fullback position. Second, it’s possible that it’s simply bad luck due to the long-term injury that the new signing Juan Cabal suffered early in the season and the on-and-off injuries of both Cambiaso and Nicolò Savona. Third, it might be because of the tactical changes that happened when Igor Tudor took over for Thiago Motta in March. And, lastly, it could just be sheer coincidence.
Whatever the case, let’s see how well the fullbacks played this season.
FC Internazionale v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images
Juan Cabal — s/v
Appearances: 9; Minutes Played: 618; Goals: 0; Assists: 1; Yellow Cards: 2; Red Cards: 0
I don’t have an official rule about the minimum number of minutes that players have to play in order to receive a season rating. However, I generally believe that if they had fewer than 10 appearances, there’s not enough data to give them a rating. Unfortunately, Cabal (and a few others) was in this category as he suffered a season-ending knee injury while on international duty with Colombia in November.
Nevertheless, he played enough for me to share some thoughts on his performances.
Juventus purchased the 24-year-old Colombian left back from Hellas Verona for a little less than €13 million. He was a bit raw in the beginning and showed the typical characteristics that we see of up-and-coming fullbacks in modern football: very promising in attack, but not as impressive defensively. And, of course, a good burst of pace to compensate for poor positioning.
But the more games he played, the more he grew into his position. The highlights of his short season were the tremendous back-to-back performances against Lazio and Inter — with an “assist” that forced the own goal that won the game and a beautiful “pre-assist” against Inter for the first equalizer in THAT crazy game.
Once again, it’s difficult to give a definitive analysis of Cabal given that he played only a handful of games this season. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think that when he returns to full fitness he will be a very useful player for Juventus. He’s strong offensively but, unlike most modern fullbacks, doesn’t sacrifice his defensive duties for the opportunity to constantly bomb forward in attack.
He has a strong enough defensive foundation to build on and decent pace, which makes me optimistic that he will be a balanced fullback. Given that he’s only competing with Cambiaso to become the first-choice left back, he has a good chance of becoming the No. 1 in that position.
Juventus v Bologna - Serie A Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
Jonas Rouhi — s/v
Appearances: 6; Minutes Played: 209; Goals: 0; Assists: 0; Yellow Cards: 0; Red Cards: 0
Here we have another fullback who most fans have probably forgotten about due to his lack of appearances for the team. But unlike Cabal, Rouhi doesn’t have the excuse of injury to explain why has played so little.
Juventini probably don’t want to admit it, but I believe many of us have begun to assume that because we’ve had great hits in the last few years with Next Gen graduates — Kenan Yildiz, Nicolo Fagioli, Nicolo Savona, Fabio Miretti, Matías Soulé, Dean Huijsen, etc. — that every player that is promoted to the senior squad is automatically untouchable.
I probably thought the same, but I think the case of Rouhi challenged this assumption. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Rouhi is a failure at all. However, I think in the few games he did play this season, it looked like playing in the Serie A was just a little too much, too soon for him. Motta gave him a few opportunities, but he seemed overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the pace of the games he played in. He was regularly included in the senior squad throughout the season but was on the bench almost every game.
Rouhi is 21 years old, which means that he’s old enough to be fighting for a spot in the senior squad of any team, but also young enough that he still needs regular, competitive minutes in first division football to continue his development. As a result, he has to decide whether it’s worth staying at Juventus in order to merely warm the bench every game or leave the club (on loan?) to a mid-table team like Genoa, Como, or Udinese to get some more experience.
As much as I don’t like to see one of our own leave the club, I think it’s for the best if he moves on in the summer.
SS Lazio v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images
Alberto Costa — s/v
Appearances: 10; Minutes Played: 358; Goals: 0; Assists: 1; Yellow Cards: 3; Red Cards: 0
Another senza volta! This has to be a season record. In fairness, the Portuguese fullback has been at Juventus for less than six months, which means he had few opportunities to play. But, in the handful of games that he played, he looked promising.
Standing 6-foot-1 inches and 172 pounds, the 21-year old has a sizable physique which allows him to outmuscle physical wingers and/or strikers that drift out wide. Though it’s a small sample size at Juve, he has shown to be defensively solid — which, once again, is a trait in fullbacks that the modern football fan seems to disregard.
He has shown to be decent offensively as well. The highlights of his attacking abilities came during the Bologna game when he got into a great position inside the box but scuffed his shot, his sensational disallowed goal in the last game of the season against Venezia, and his assist for Randal Kolo Muani’s goal in that same game against Venezia.
Overall, I think he’s similar to Cabal; maybe not quite as fast but certainly bigger and more physical, which are useful characteristics that will help balance the defense. He also seems to be a little more offensively-minded than Cabal, but again it’s far too early to tell. I hope and am very excited to see him become a bigger part of the team next season.
SS Lazio v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images
Nicolò Savona — 7
Appearances: 37; Minutes Played: 2,334; Goals: 2; Assists: 1; Yellow Cards: 6; Red Cards: 0
Finally, a rating!
Motta surprised everyone when he gave the Next Gen graduate his full senior debut in the 3-0 home victory over Como on the first matchday of the season. And what a pleasant surprise it was.
Savona hit the ground running in the first couple of months of the season. He’s roughly the same height and weight as Costa (192 cm vs. 186 cm; 79 kg vs. 78 kg) and used his physique well to defend on crosses and to provide a threat on attacking set pieces. For his young age, he has showed impressive tactical flexibility by occasionally playing as a right-sided center back in a back three, wing back, and (to lesser success) left back.
He showed incredible maturity and talent to neutralize the likes of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Rafael Leao in games at home against Napoli and away at Milan respectively early in the season. However, it’s clear that the injuries he suffered in December, February, and (especially) March significantly and negatively impacted his form.
He was shakier defensively and, as a result, played less frequently under Motta and (initially) Tudor. To be fair, Motta didn’t help the situation by playing him on his weaker left side. I’m still undecided on how good he is as a (right-sided) center back.
Nevertheless, Savona is another defender who should be trusted with more games and responsibility in the Juventus defense. Later in the season he got caught out positionally a few times (sometimes leading to goals), so he definitely needs to work on that next season. And there’s definitely some potential for him to develop as a (right-sided) center back.
But let’s not forget that this was his first season of senior football. In fact, I gave him an extra 0.5 simply because of that. Based on his performances so far and if given the right defensive coaching to help him improve, I think Savona can become an outstanding defender for the Bianconeri for many years to come.
Parma v Juventus - Serie A Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images
Andrea Cambiaso — 7
Appearances: 42; Minutes Played: 2,895; Goals: 2; Assists: 5; Yellow Cards: 4; Red Cards:0
Like Savona, Cambiaso’s season was characterized by his performances before and after a significant injury. Before his ankle injury in early December, Cambiaso was sensational and continued his great performances from the 2023-24 season. His tactical intelligence and great passing allow him to play as a fullback in defense and wide central midfielder (mezzala) in attack. He defends well in 1-on-1 situations but because of his positional fluidity can be caught out of position from time to time.
But then came the freak ankle injury that he sustained when blocking a shot against Bologna.
He simply wasn’t the same after that. He became less reliable defensively and started making more mistakes in that area. While many fans joked that his dip in form came at the same time as the rumors of Manchester City wanting to purchase him in January, I don’t think that had anything to do with his performances.
At first, I was very critical of his post-injury form but then I tried to put myself in his shoes and understand how difficult it must have been to play on an ankle that seemingly never fully healed. I believe that if he gets a full summer to recover — I would prefer to leave him home for the Club World Cup — he will consistently show us the pre-injury form that we saw from him.
As the season progressed, he seemed to become more conservative offensively and focused more on his defensive duties, which improved his performances. It also meant that he wasn’t caught out of position as frequently.
Overall, I give him an 8 for his pre-injury form and 6.5 for his post-injury performances, which I averaged to a 7 (I chose to round down here). As we’ve seen with McKennie, the type of tactical flexibility that players like them provide is an invaluable asset that this team needs in order to compete for silverware. Let’s hope that he remains a Juventus player next season.