Surprising news: The Juventus trade their most talented player to another weak football team ever.
Unexpected news: Juventus sell their most gifted player to the worst football team ever.
The team is well-known for selling standout players when they believe the moment is perfect and using the proceeds to bolster their roster.
But they have erred, big and small, just like most clubs. And for the previous several years, this has gotten more and more problematic.
In the lengthy and prosperous history of the team, these are some of the worst acquisitions.
. Diego, €25 million from Werder Bremen
Does Diego still exist? The Brazilian’s 2009 cult following skyrocketed as he was instrumental in Bremen’s UEFA Cup final run.
It was clearly known that Diego would be going on to better pastures when Bremen ultimately lost to Shakhtar Donestk in the championship match. He believed that, at least.
Though Diego was about to join a club in transition, Juve prevailed in the competition to sign him in May 2009.
Beppe Marotta and Antonio Conte would arrive to start their total control of the Italian game, but it was a difficult time for the club after Luciano Moggi & co. and before Andrea Agnelli.
He spent just one season at Turin, but in Serie A, he appeared lost among a weak supporting cast.
One year after arriving, Wolfsburg in Germany paid €16 million for him. His standing never returned.
Patrick Vieira, $15.3 million from Arsenal, 2005
Sports director Luciano Moggi of Juve thought Patrick Vieira’s summer 2005 transfer was a masterstroke. Vieira had been a pillar of the Arsenal team that went undefeated in 2003–04 and one of the top box-to-box midfielders in the world for the preceding five years.
Still, The Gunners had the final laugh. With his energy waning, the 29-year-old seemed lethargic in Serie A and far from the dominant midfielder he had been for Arsenal, they had obviously traded Vieira at the appropriate moment.
When Juventus and Arsenal were paired up in the Champions League quarterfinal in 2006, this was never more clear. A teenage Cesc Fabregas upstaged Vieira as Arsenal whirled around Juve.
Juve and Vieira looked ancient, and Arsenal triumphed easily.
He spent just one season in Turin before joining Inter in the wake of the Calciopoli affair.
Remarkably out of his depth in Serie A, Juan Esnaider was signed in 1998–1999 as a mid-season replacement for the injured Alessandro Del Piero.
The striker, who was mediocre at best, struggled right away in the late 1990s’ considerably harder Serie A.
He spent his entire time in Italy without scoring a single goal for the team, and in December 2000, he joined Real Zaragoza back in La Liga.
